Of Cursed Lands and Cursed Lines
by QueenHimiko
Summary: Gourry's past catches up to him when his brothers track him down and try to force him to return to the Elmekian Empire. Novels continuity, set after the 15th. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I don't own** _ **The Slayers**_ **, I just play in the sandbox.**

Supported on one side by her husband, Petry, and the other by her sister, Anga, Eica gasped in surprise.

"Are you okay?" Petry, asked, causing Lucia to turn to regard the three.

"My waters have broken." She whispered.

Lucia grinned at her daughter-in-law. "A good omen." She told her.

Eica's face reddened as her grip on Petry's hand tightened as her face balled up in pain as another contraction enveloped her. Lucia looked at the fortress that was looming on the horizon. It was hard to see it in the dead of the moonless night, but if luck was on their side then that meant that Hoarden could not see them approach. "We're sitting ducks like this. We have to keep moving, even through the pain."

Eica's brilliant blue eyes set determinedly as, supported by her husband and sister, she continued forward. Lucia continued her trek, and from behind her she heard Eica mutter to Petry, "I hate you. And I am going to kill you for doing this to me!"

Lucia smiled as she walked forward, recalling how quickly women forgive and forget. Around her followed most of the townspeople from Biar. It had been sometime after Petry was born that the water that had made Biar sustainable dried up, transforming life from difficult but manageable into a harsh day to day struggle for existence. Every day they went to bed hungry and thirsty, and Lucia was convinced that were it not for the supplies of water and food that Nes would bring them periodically the town would have died out. Leaving was unthinkable. The dunes were even drier than the town, and walking among them was suicide. They were trapped in Biar. How Nes was able to navigate them was a mystery.

It was her daughter, Ynezza, had discovered that the reason the town had dried up was because a sorcerer named Hoarden had found the aquifer that fed the town and diverted it to a fortress he had built to keep it all to himself.

The townspeople were naturally furious, and quickly they formed a battalion to take down Hoarden. Only the youngest of the children and the oldest and frailest of the townspeople were left behind. Lucia glanced at her remaining family. She had buried her husband years ago, as well as many children who simply had not survived the sheer brutality of the life they were born into. Her sainted mother had succumbed many years ago as well, and she had never known her father. No, all that was left of her family was her surviving children, Petry, Ynezza and Larsa, and between the three of them there was a handful of grandchildren. Unfortunately, more had perished than survived.

When Eica's pains had started hours before they left it seemed as if the gods were smiling on their quest and their luck had finally turned. Her waters breaking was further proof that the gods were on their side. There was little doubt in Lucia's mind that they would be victorious.

Lucia patted the hilt of the Sword of Light and smiled as the fortress grew larger and more distinct. Her children had had to grow up under the burden of hunger and thirst. But not her grandchildren.

* * *

Fortunately Hoarden lived alone. And fortunately he was not a skilled fighter. Lucia was a skilled swordswoman and she wielded the legendary Sword of Light. While Hoarden did put up a fight, it was nothing she could not handle. She easily absorbed and deflected the spells he lobbed at her and sent them back to him while, in the corner of the great hall, Petri defended his laboring wife.

When the infant's cries echoed through the hall Lucia grinned. It was time to finish Hoarden. She knew he wouldn't surrender. There was a raging group of townspeople ready to tear him from limb to limb. Literally. They only way he would surrender to defeat was through death. And Lucia was ready to grant it to him.

Lucia lunged, cornering Hoarden, and before he could finish the spell he was chanting, she brought the sword to his neck and swiftly decapitated him. The townspeople cheered. Lucia sheathed her sword and walked over to Petri and his family. A tapestry had been torn from the wall, and Eica was resting on it, having gotten the infant to latch to her breast. Lucia noted with a sense of pride that he was a bit larger than average and well formed. Indeed, he would make a legendary Gunginiel Knight!

"It's another boy." Petri said proudly.

Lucia grinned as she knelt beside Eica and gazed at her new grandson. Finally, some fifty years after her mother had founded them, they had a Gunginiel Knight in the family. His tiny fist curled around Eica's finger as he stared questioningly into her eyes. "Good work. I shall let Nes know that my newest grandson was born in the midst of an epic battle, and his training shall begin immediately." Lucia told her daughter-in-law.

Eica smiled, and the pride radiated through her features, taking the edge off how shockingly pale and sickly she looked at the moment. Petry wrapped an arm around her and asked, "Do you forgive me yet, my love?"

"I'm getting there. Ask me tomorrow." She said, but when he gave her a quick kiss on the lips she returned it.

"Well done, brother." Ynezza said as she clapped Petri on the back while her eyes remained fixed on her newest nephew, while Larsa glared at Eica enviously. Her belly was still swollen, and likely her sole chance to birth a Gunginiel Knight of her own had come and gone. Lucia sympathized. Much as she wanted to, she had never managed to birth a child in the heat of a battle.

Only a child who had a mother who was brave and strong enough to undergo the agony of childbirth and a father skilled enough to protect himself and his helpless wife were deemed skilled enough to become Gunginiel Knights. Long ago the people of the Elmekian Empire found that birthing a child under such circumstances left an imprint on the child, but only if the mother, father and child all survived the battle. The circumstances of their extraordinary birth fortified them with superhuman abilities. They were stronger, their senses sharper, their abilities with a sword mythical. When Lucia's mother had found out about such children she made it her life mission to find them and recruit them into the Gunginiel Knighthood. And indeed, the Gunginiel Knights became legendary, not only for their abilities, but for their loyalty to no Emperor or duke.

Unlike other soldiers who were taught to follow orders, the Gunginiel Knights were taught to question them. They were taught to seek the truth, no matter how painful, and to defend the defenseless and not the powerful. They were taught to save lives when they could, and take them only when it was unavoidable. They were taught to weigh the consequences of their decisions, to think through which would cause the least harm.

In an empire marked by corruption, they were a beacon of goodness. The Emperor hated them. The people loved them. And women pushed themselves into battle while heavily pregnant in the hopes of birthing one.

"What are you calling him?" Lucia asked as she put a hand on the infant's back.

Eica looked at Petri, and he nodded. And though she was pale and trembling, when she spoke her voice was strong and confident, "Gourry."

* * *

Even now, some seven years after he had left his home, he could not shake the feeling that his father would kill him. From time to time the feeling that was birthed in childhood would reawaken to torment him in dreams where he would run through the barren dunes, looking for a place to hide. But there was no sanctuary from the monstrous being his father would become when provoked. In his dreams his father could ride the dunes, glide over them where a mere mortal such as Gourry would stumble and was slowed down by the difficulties of running on the soft sand. Eventually he would have to choose between being swallowed by the dunes or letting his father catch him.

His foot sank deeply, and in his haste to pick up speed he attempted to move it forward before fully wresting it from the sand and he fell face down into the dune. He turned as quickly as possible to see his father standing before him, only the features were less like his father's, and more like what Gourry would see when he looked into a mirror. The bottom fell from his stomach as the world spun, and just as he hit rock bottom his eyes opened.

He was safe and secure in a tiny attic loft. Beside him he could sense the weight and warmth of a body, and he relaxed as he remembered that he and Lina had had to share a bed. They had thought that, as they had finished their day of travel stuck in the middle of nowhere they would have to break out rations and camp out, but they happened upon a sole farmhouse owned by a kind family who offered them a place at their table and room in their attic. It was cramped but cozy.

He closed his eyes, worried that he had disturbed Lina with his nightmare. But she was still beside him, her breathing soft and even. Secure in the knowledge that she was none the wiser, he found himself relaxing further, relishing in the warmth that radiated her body, so close but so far!

It was so nice to wake up and find her beside him. He yearned to turn over and hold her until he had forgotten completely about the nightmare, but he kept still. He did not have permission to take those liberties with her. And working himself up to ask for them was exceedingly difficult, even as he knew that there was no place he wanted to be for the rest of his life other than by her side.

He turned and looked at her, propping himself up on his elbow as he did. While he had told her where he was from and that he left because his family was fighting, he didn't want to go into just how bad it was, nor how badly it could still affect him. It was his past. She was his present. And hopefully his future. He took a deep breath as his fears surged and he batted them away.

Slowly he got out of bed and pulled back the curtain and looked out the window to assure himself that there were no sand dunes outside and plenty of grass and trees. He never got tired of seeing greenery. It was the most tangible evidence that he was no longer home, that he had put it behind him. It was his present. He glanced back at Lina, who was stirring as the light hit her and his lips turned upward into a slight smile. Lina _was_ his future, he reminded himself, if he was brave enough to seize it.

Lina's hand reached up and started to bat at the light, as though she could somehow push it away. As soon as her eyes opened he broadened his grin, "Morning sunshine."

She grabbed her pillow from beneath her head and wrapped it so it was over her face as she turned around defiantly. He chuckled. "Out of bed! Bianca is cooking breakfast and it smells good, plus we have a lot of ground to cover."

She threw the pillow at him but he managed to catch it. "What's the rush anyway?" she snarled.

"If we don't get there soon all of the grapes will be gone." He said as he tossed the pillow back at her.

She flushed slightly in her endearing manner as she focused intently on the pillow and punched it. "Idiot. We've never run out yet."

Wondering if he could push her into a full-fledged blush, he reached out a hand to her, "You ready?"

She looked at his hand out of the corner of her eye, and sure enough the blush grew, and it was thrilling to watch. Slowly she reached for it and held it firmly, and he guided her off the bed, the feel of her small, warm hand driving away the last vestiges of the nightmare from his conscious mind as sparks lighted in his belly.

Though it was incredible to think of they had never touched bare hands before. When they had grabbed hands in the past both of their hands were covered with their gloves. And even though they had kept their day clothes on, they had divested themselves of the extraneous items such as gloves before climbing into bed with each other. He looked at her, noting that the blush was consuming her features. She looked so beautiful and felt so nice that he yearned to kiss her.

He cupped her cheek and started to stroke her face, and she looked up at him, her dark eyes heavy with what he hoped was lust. She moved her chin up slightly, forcing her lips forward as if inviting him for a kiss. Entranced, he leaned forward, marveling at the perfect moment they had found themselves in.

But before his lips reached hers, a chorus of high pitched voices sounded from bellow. Lina pulled back and turned from him, hiding her face as the children of the farmers they were staying with bounded up into the tiny attic to bring them down for breakfast. Annoyance surged through him.

He took a deep breath in and slowly let it out, and forced his mind on the positives. He was out of the Elmekian Empire. He was in a land that was verdant and green. He had woken up beside Lina Inverse and managed to provoke her into turning several shades of red before breakfast. Their first kiss was something he would soon experience and something he still had to look forward to. And he still had the opportunity to get her to blush charmingly as she tried to figure out his intentions. That last one caused him to smile. He enjoying riling her up far too much, but then, she was so pretty when she was flustered!

As they made it down to breakfast and watched the family they were staying with interact together Gourry found another thing to add to his positives list. Happy families could and did exist.

* * *

"You know, I never expect much from dingy little inns like this, but after that amazing bread we had that Bianca made last night, this is especially disappointing!" Lina said even as she continued to tear into it.

Gourry finished eating his crust and leaned back in his chair, "Yeah, it's too bad we don't often come across such hospitality on our journeys. Though I don't see what can be so hard about it."

Lina's eyes widened, "Don't you know anything? Making bread is very hard! You have to spend hours kneading it, and you can't do it for too short of a time or too long of a time. After a while your hands start to cramp up something awful. Making bread is a skillful science, though. It's not surprising that so many hassled innkeepers can't pull it off."

"Wow, you seem to know a lot about it."

"One of my friends, Dana, was the baker's daughter." Lina explained, "And you know how these things run in families. For a while I tried to teach her everything I was learning about magic while she taught me about breadmaking, but I hated it just as much as she hated sorcery. Eventually I got more involved with sorcery and Dana got more involved with baking and we split ways, even before I left home."

Gourry picked up his knife and fork and started to cut into the roast chicken, wondering if now was the time to address the troublesome questions that occasionally crossed his mind, "Yeah, your mother's a sorceress, isn't she?"

"Well, she stopped her work with the guild after she settled down," Lina said as she swallowed her chicken, "I mean between raising two kids and running a store she didn't have too much time for it, and she'd much rather spend her free time reading stories than researching magic. But she'd use it occasionally to help her around the house. And one time a robber decided to target our store in broad daylight! I was five and was dusting the shelves when it happened. Mom knocked him out with a good Bomb Sprid and tied him up before my dad, who was in the supply room, even knew there was a problem."

Gourry grinned, "Sounds like that man picked the wrong store to rob!"

"Sure did!" she replied, "But at first when he came in and threatened her I was a little scared, and I knew I wanted to be able to take care of myself like she did. She took him down so easily I needn't have worried. So I started studying it, and here I am."

 _Thank goodness,_ he thought as she washed down her chicken with a sip of wine. As she grew older she started to take it more with her evening meal, replacing the juice and tea she had taken when he first met her. While she was at an awkward age then, not quite an adult, but not quite a kid, she was now undeniably an adult. While her body remained lean, there was a soft roundness to it the signaled her maturity and heralded his ability to be intimate with her without robbing the cradle.

Because the last thing he wanted was to destroy her by burdening her with his need for her. He'd seen it happen far too often in his family to risk repeating the pattern. And, as she said, these things run in families. He grabbed the soup bowl and brought it to his mouth, tipping it slightly to hide his face as he asked before slurping it, "Your mother, was she happy, raising a family and running a store after living a life on the road?"

She dropped her knife and it hit the table with a clatter as her face reddened. Safe behind the soup bowl he grinned. He was going to miss doing this to her once he put his feelings for her out in the open. "Wha-whe-where did that question come from?" she stammered as she stared deliberately at her plate.

He shrugged and lowered the bowl slightly, "Well, when you talk about her she always seems happy. It just seems like it could be hard, you know. Going from warrior to wife."

Lina considered the chicken for a bit as the blush slowly receded before she carefully cut into it, "I don't know about her adjustment, I mean, I came along years after that happened, but growing up she seemed happy and content." She thought further and added, "Though, laundry day was always hell. Why? I mean, did the women in your family not get used to it?"

Gourry set the bowl down, feeling more assured that things were as his grandmother said, "My grandmother used to say that Elmekia has a way of killing all of the joy in life."

Lina shoveled the chicken in her mouth, "Well, there's a reason I never wanted to travel to that wasteland."

Gourry smiled. He could have told her about interesting places in the Elmekian Empire, but he decided not to. He did not want to pique her curiosity. While he would follow her anywhere, he was certain that if he ever set foot in that land again the dunes would suck him in and bury him alive. He took a good sip of beer, nearly choking as a familiar smell singed his nostrils. Slowly he sat down his tankard as he wondered if he was imagining it. But no, five hundred feet from the inn and moving in the presence grew more distinct. Fortunately there was no bloodlust or sense of wrath, but he wouldn't call it friendly either.

Lina grabbed her knife and speared a chunk of potato with it as she glanced at him, "What?" she asked, noting his furrowed brow.

He took a deep breath, calling on every ounce of his training to even his breathing against the voice screaming in his head to quicken it. Eventually as he kept his breathing measured his heart rate slowed, though the door opening caused him to lose the calm he had regained.

"I think I ate a bell pepper." He said in the most idiotic tone he could manage, and fortunately Lina groaned as he focused on the figure entering the restaurant, thanking his lucky stars that Lina's back was towards the door. Undoubtedly at a glance she would have noticed the resemblance.

Fortunately, if one of his brothers had to have tracked him down, he could have done a lot worse than Mills. Gourry had lost track of the number of times his father had sworn off his two youngest sons as being a disappointment to the family. Gourry, who due to the circumstances of his birth should have been the most magnificent of them all, instead was the end of the glorious line of sons and the start of the disappointing group. Mills, while not as bad as Gourry, still could not compare to the glory that Gunther and Pollock brought him.

Mills walked in steadily, and though he barely glanced at their table Gourry had no doubt that he had been spotted. Lina lectured him on the nutritional value of bell peppers as she polished her plate while Mills headed straight for the bar and sat at it.

Gourry could no longer keep him in his line of sight, not without attracting Lina's attention. As she continued her spiel his mind raced as he tried to figure out what to do, but it was hard when the overwhelming question in his mind was why now. Why was this happening now? True, he had never wanted it to happen, but this occurring right when he wanted to take things to a new level with Lina?

Lina finished her wine and set her glass down and stretched before glancing at him. "I guess I'd better hit the sack."

He was so distracted that he did not catch the expectancy in her eyes, nor the slight look of disappointment that marred her face when he said, "Yeah, we do have a long way to go tomorrow."

"Night." She said quietly as she got up and headed to the stairs. He leaned back in his seat as he watched her go up and out of sight, listening closely to her footfalls as she finished climbing the stairs and crossed the hallway above. He focused hard, filtering out the sounds of the noisy restaurant around him and focusing on her movements above as she opened and closed the door. Satisfied that she was safe in her room he turned around and considered his brother.

Slowly he got up and crossed the distance between them and sat down beside him. Mills took a swig of ale. "Gourry." He said.

Many brothers would clasp each other in a warm greeting after being separated for so long. But the fighting and distrust that the Gabriev brothers had known their whole life made it so that Gourry did not know where he stood with Mills. So he asked the question that was weighing foremost on his mind. "How did you find me?"

"That sorceress was your undoing. We tried to track you down for years, but you'd always seemed to have just left wherever we visited. Eventually we learned that you were traveling with Lina Inverse, and Gunther figured that if you were with her for so long you must have grown attached. It was only a matter of time before you would want to do the right and noble thing and meet her family. So we put men on the road to every route that lead to Zefiel City and it finally paid off."

Gourry felt his blood run cold. "Is Father here?"

"Idiot. Do you really think he'd risk someone else taking the aquifer from him? No, he remains at home. Gunther is here, though. He's waiting for you in Fedlow."

Fedlow. He and Lina had been studying the map that afternoon. They would be there in two day's time.

Mills turned to him and put a hand on his arm, "The game is up, brother. I get what you were trying to do, but it's over. Give me the sword, lay low for a bit. I'll tell them that I killed you in a fight for it."

Usually the idea of Mills slaying him in a fight, even without the sword, would be so laughable that Gourry would have not been able to hold the giant belly laugh in. But these were strange circumstances. "Can't. The Sword of Light is not in this world anymore." Gourry touched the hilt of the Blast Blade to show Mills that he wore a different sword now. "It's gone home."

Whatever warmth remained in Mills' deep blue eyes vanished as he swore. Was it Gourry's imagination, or did Mills tremble slightly? "I was afraid of that." He muttered, "There were rumors."

Tensely Gourry wondered if they had also heard rumors about him now owning the Blast Sword. But Mills did not say anything about that. "Then there's no way around it. We're going to have to bring you home to Father, and you're going to have to take your licks. You have to face the punishment for what you did."

Something within him burned at that statement, as if he hadn't been punished enough for things he hadn't done. "Can't." Gourry said. "I've got plenty of responsibilities here."

Mills snorted into his tankard, "What, did you knock up that sorceress?"

Gourry's eyes narrowed, "I resent everything you imply with that question."

Mills laughed, "Of course, you're too noble for that." He took a deep breath and shook his head, "Do you really think you have a future with her, a happy one? You know that we Gabriev's curse the women we love dearly. Our mother found that out the hard way, and so did our grandmother."

"Aunt Ynezza was happy with Uncle Olly." Gourry argued.

"Idiot, she wasn't married to a Gabriev."

The sense of relief he felt when he asked Lina about whether or not her mother had found happiness with married life started to vanish as he thought of his mother. "Grandma always said that Elmekia poisons everything. And as since I left I've been happy she seems to be right."

"All couples start out happy." Mills said, feeding on all of Gourry's doubts. "But then the reality of a life lived together kicks in. And there's never enough to keep everyone happy."

"In Elmekia you're lucky to get the water you need." Gourry countered, "That's never a problem here."

"But it just doesn't stop at needs." Mills shot back, "Father was very good at making sure that we had all the food and water we needed. And we still wanted more."

Gourry shuddered. Unlike Gunther and Pollock, he and Mills had never known what it was like to go to bed hungry or thirsty. And even after the aqueduct had been constructed that diverted the water from the aquifer and to the town of Biar, his older brothers and his father had never been able to feel secure in the knowledge that there was now plenty. Like the sorcerer his grandmother and parents' had disposed of, they had started to hoard the precious water for themselves. "I never wanted more."

"You and your high ideals." Mills said. "You know the stories. You saw what happened to our mother. You know how Grandma couldn't talk about our grandfather with anything but loathing. We Gabrievs love our women dearly, we love them so much that we destroy them with it. We can't help what's in our nature. Best let her go and find happiness elsewhere, and come home with me."

Gourry's eyes narrowed. "You don't think Gunther will try and hurt her?"

"Why would he need to do that?" Mills asked with a shrug. "He knows it will destroy you more thoroughly when you do it yourself. Come now, brother, let's not make a scene."

Gourry stepped away from the bar. "Goodnight, Mills." He said quietly.

Fortunately Mills did not follow him as he walked to the stairs, but then Mills was the least likely of his brothers to best him in battle, and Mills would be the first to admit it. No, the damage Mills could wield was different. He caused people to doubt themselves. He was very good at it. Frighteningly good at it. As Gourry climbed up the stairs he could not help but be weighed down by his doubts over his ability to keep Lina happy as the years passed and the weight of irreversible decisions started to burden them.

He got to the top of the stairs and broadened his senses, looking for any sense of malice or bloodlust. There was none. He wondered why Mills had come to him, wasting any element of surprise they could have had with a full on attack. Unless Mills had decided to bet on Gourry still having the sword and hoped that he would hand it over to keep them out of his life? If that was the case, Mills had just made a huge tactical error, fortunately in Gourry's favor. But then, Mills always was horrible at betting.

But was Mills right about Gunther leaving Lina alone? He looked at the door to her room and focused on the presence within. She was awake and unharmed. And while he wasn't ready to tell her about the situation, he also wanted her to know to be on her guard. He knocked on the door, calling, "It's me."

She opened it, expectancy shimmering in her dark eyes. "Hey." She said as she stepped away from the door, "Come in."

She closed it behind him and he scanned the room. It was small and lit with her light spell. There was only a bed and a tiny table upon which her books and notes were strewn. As far as he could tell there was no one or nothing in there that should not be. And the window appeared to be secure. He turned to look at her. She was wearing a button up top and draw string trousers and her hair had been freshly brushed. "What's up?" she asked.

He looked into her sparkling dark eyes, so full of expectancy. He wondered what she would think if she knew just how bad the situation back home was. If she would have seconds thoughts if she knew about the depths of depravity that his closet blood relations had sunk to. If she would still look at him like this if she knew the full story, "Just keep an eye out. I saw some suspicious people in the inn."

She arched an eyebrow, "Oh?"

He felt torn between wanting to open up to her and feeling scared to. Between knowing that she needed to know the truth so she could defend herself, and scared of what she would do when she learned it. Would she leave him? He wouldn't blame her.

He needed time to work himself up to telling her everything, to figure out how best to do it. "Nothing too serious, but keep your guard up, just in case."

She looked at him with an indecipherable expression on her face, trying to make sense of his strange behavior. Eventually she smiled nervously, "This isn't some ruse to sneak into my bed for the night, is it?" she challenged with a hint of seduction in her eyes.

He felt a blush creep into his cheeks. It didn't happen often, but every now and then she managed to fluster him just as thoroughly as he did her. But she needed to understand that this wasn't a ruse. That they were in danger. He reached forward and put his hands on her shoulders and looked deeply into her eyes, wanting to convey how serious he was with his gaze.

"I mean it, keep your guard up." He pulled away. He opened his mouth to say more, and then shook his head. "Night, Lina."

"Gourry, wait…"

He left before she could say anymore and closed the door behind him. He made it to his own room without incident, surprised that she was not following him and demanding an explanation. He sat on the bed and cradled his head within it as he wondered desperately what to do.

Gunther was here. He was two days away. And his wrath over learning that the Sword of Light was gone would be terrible to behold. He was in danger. And likely Lina was as well. And, no matter which way he looked at it, it seemed he would have to meet, and likely kill, another brother on the battlefield.


	2. Chapter 2

Looking back, it seemed as though his family had never been able to recover from the deprivations that the drought had brought. As a child Gourry could not understand why his father, who was typically jovial and boisterous, would get so angry if a drop of water was spilt. While family evenings were typically happy times filled with food and laughter, Gourry knew all too well how it could change in an instant if a cup of water was dropped. And as children are prone to being clumsy, it was unavoidable that Gourry and each of his siblings found themselves at the mercy of their father as he raged. One time when Gunther had dropped a mug and broke it his father had punched him clear across the room before grabbing the rod he kept and beating him with it. Gunther wasn't able to walk for a week after that.

Making sure his family never had to go to bed thirsty again was the driving force of Petry's life. Having and securing water became his obsession. While things had been easier since they liberated the aquifer, there was no easy way to redirect it back to their village. So every morning while it was still cool women from the village would have to walk for miles carrying a huge vase, and then back to get their needs for the day met. Petry was quick to suggest the idea of building an aqueduct. His father had had a natural talent for building that he seemed to have passed on to him.

But building it had been a tremendous undertaking. The Elmekian Empire was infamous for its lack of building material. No trees grew in the desert and there were few rock quarries. The houses were made of dried mud brick. Most people didn't even have a door on their huts, just a hole for an entrance. Fortunately they never ran out of sand. Water to turn it to mud was a different story. But once baked, dried and covered with stucco it made a sturdy building material.

It took seven years to build the aqueduct. Everyone in town helped. Boys who were eight and older went out every day to help with its construction while their sisters mixed and dried out the bricks. Gourry would wave goodbye to his father, Gunther and Pollock every morning while they went to work on building it and every evening they would come home, covered in sweat and grime but proud of the work they were doing.

Gourry admired the three of them so much. Pollock was ten years older, Gunther seven, and Gourry idolized them. He wished he could go and help them build the aqueduct, but he was too young, and even if he weren't, his path lay in a different direction. So he trained with Nes, helped around the house with chores, and played with his close in age cousins, sisters and Mills.

The whole town joined together in celebration once it was finished. Gourry felt proud of his town and of his family, and especially of his father, for initiating and overseeing the project. But at the age of seven he could not foresee the tragedy its completion would bestow upon his family. It was inconceivable something so good as having a secure water supply would pave the road to tragedy.

Because Petry worried that the water would run out. Having enough water became an obsession, and in his mind, he could never have enough. Petry started to see the aqueduct as his, while the people of Biar disagreed and saw it as theirs. Combined, they greatly outnumbered him. But if he had the Sword of Light, then their numbers wouldn't matter.

The only problem was that Lucia had the Sword of Light. And she had agreed with the people of Biar.

Gourry watched as his father turned from being respected to hated. While before they had gotten along with the other citizens well and Gourry had had a lot of friends, suddenly the people became resentful and his friends stopped wanting to play with him. Worse, a rift started to form between his father and grandmother. He was used to relations between his mother and grandmother being icy. Eica was worried about Lucia wanting to claim Gourry for herself, while Lucia thought Eica was too hard on him. But before Petry had always managed to keep things smooth enough between the two of them with a well-timed joke that would send both women into fits of laughter and cause them to forget the source of their disagreement. But then Petry and Lucia started fighting. And then Gourry started to feel a lot of pressure to choose between his parents and his grandmother.

The problem was he loved all three of them deeply.

Which was why it was a relief whenever Nes would come down. Nes had been a family friend for generations. He had helped Gourry's great-grandmother establish the Gunginiel Knights, and still trained the youngest of them. Once a month he would visit Biar and train Gourry to focus and hone his senses and tell him stories. And, as he was friends with the family, he was close enough to care but not enough to get tangled in sides.

Right now, more than anyone, Gourry wished he could talk to Nes. He wondered if he should try to track Nes down on the off chance that he still was alive, but he quickly discarded the idea. In the time it would take him to track down Nes, Gunther would have found him three times over. Plus, it would entail going back to the Elmekian Empire. Gourry was lucky to escape it once.

And besides all that, he didn't think he could face Nes after the disappointment he must have brought him. That Nes had never attempted to contact him in all these years must have meant that he did not approve of how he had handled the situation Gourry had discovered when he came home after being trained at Gungini Hall. And Gourry could not blame him.

Gourry closed his eyes and focused his senses on his surroundings. In the room next to his Lina was lying in bed, but something about the way the bed creaked subtly as though she was shifting positions often and the way she breathed told him she was not asleep. Granted, after the confused warning he had given her it would be tough to fall asleep. On his other side another patron was snoring loudly in his bed. And from below he could hear the innkeepers shutting down the kitchen and getting ready to turn in for the night. And around the inn he could detect no sign of Mills, who had left shortly after Gourry went to his room, or any other hostile presence.

He opened his eyes, thinking of the stories Nes would tell. Not that Gourry remembered any of the stories, but that wasn't the point of their being told. Gourry would have to think of a way of telling the story that was sympathetic to each character's point of view. And then he would have to determine the most moral way to act in the story. Nes would never tell Gourry if he thought he was right or wrong, he would simply ask more questions, forcing Gourry to think about the situation more deeply.

It was when Gourry was seven that he posed his own dilemma to his mentor. "Father and Mother have been fighting with Grandma and Aunt Ynezza a lot lately." He reported in answer to Nes' question on how things were going.

If Nes was surprised, it did not register in his pale brown eyes, "Have they now?"

Gourry nodded, "Well, now that the aqueduct is complete, Grandma and Aunt Ynezza feel it belongs to the town. But Father feels that he was the one who planned the construction of it and he's worried about people wasting too much water, so he wants to trade goods and services for the use of it."

"And what do you think?"

Gourry squirmed under Nes' gaze as he shifted through his conflicting feelings. There was the instinctive drive to defend his parents, who he loved, as being all good and all righteous. This warred with the exercises Nes had put him through, as well as the resentment he was feeling from the rest of the townspeople, who collectively had put in much backbreaking work into the aqueduct. "Well, it's not as if my father, or anyone in my family really owns the aquifer, is it? It belongs to the whole town."

Gourry eyes darted to the entrance of the hut and he quickly focused on his senses, assuring himself that both of his parents were out of earshot and unable to hear his spoken betrayal. Nes stared at him contemplatively, his expression as always unreadable. There was something strange about Nes, something that Gourry could never quite pin down. Such as the fact that, though he was one of his great-grandmother, Hikara's, dearest friends he looked to be in his early twenties and younger than his grey and wrinkled grandmother, even though he had watched Lucia grow up.

Finally Nes spoke, his voice as smooth as water, "It sounds as though you have found a solid, defensible position. Even if it is unpopular with your parents, it is yours to hold on to."

Gourry stared at the dirt floor of the hut. "You're not going to tell them?" he asked quietly.

"No." Nes said, "You are still a child. But before the year is out you shall turn eight, and then you will be old enough for me to bring you to Gungini Hall, where your next phase of training will begin."

A thrill of excitement ran through Gourry, though he would be sad to leave his family. "Will I learn to use the sword?"

The corners of Nes' mouth turned upward slightly, "I thought your father had already gotten you started on that."

"He has." Gourry said, "I like it a lot, but Father doesn't have a lot of time to teach it to me. I want to get better at it."

"And you shall."

Gourry left the mud house in the center of town that night full of excitement over the fact that he would soon be going to Gungini Hall. Though the sun was setting and he knew he risked incurring his mother's wrath if he stopped by his grandmother's house first before going home, he did so anyway. Aunt Ynezza lived with his grandmother, and he liked playing with his baby cousin, Nona. Besides, his grandmother was an amazing cook, but he would never admit that to his mother who saw everything between them as a contest.

As he got closer he heard the sounds of shouting from her house. Eventually he could distinguish the voices of seven people: his grandmother, father, mother, Aunt Ynezza, Aunt Larsa and both of their husbands, as well as the whiny contralto of the village priest, Trebo. Gourry slowed down and focused his attention on the voices as he crept to his grandmother's house.

"Knock off the family tradition spiel!" his father yelled, "You've never mentioned such a thing my whole life until we disagreed! The Sword of Light is passed to the first born!"

"First born _daughter_!" Lucia intoned, her voice as firm as steel, "The Sword of Light has been passed down from mother to daughter for generations. As such, Ynezza will be the rightful owner of the sword."

"You're just doing this because you disagree about the aqueduct!" Eica started.

"Well, it's shown me a side of your character that I find rather distasteful." Lucia snapped. "And tradition stands. My mother gave me the sword, as did her mother before her, and as I shall give it to Ynezza."

"Do you honestly think this will make me change my mind about the aqueduct?" Petry hollered.

"You'll have to bring that up with our fellow townspeople." Lucia countered.

"Yeah," Larsa agreed, "They won't be too happy begging for water while you build your wife a two room house!"

"How dare you!" Eica screeched, "I've not seen any of you birth a Gunginiel Knight! It's not proper to bring him up so."

"It's no worse than it is for the rest of us." Larsa pointed out. "Birthing a Gunginiel Knight doesn't make you empress! And while we're at it, I've had it with you and your big head shoving your one accomplishment under our noses…"

"Don't you dare talk to my wife like that!" Petry yelled, and suddenly everyone in the room started yelling at once.

Gourry reached the tiny mud house and stood by the wall and just away from the entrance so that none of them would notice him. Finally Lucia's voice rose above them all, "Quiet! Shut up! All of you! Yes, you too Ynezza!" she yelled, "It's not up for debate. Father Trebo, please note, that I, Lucia Gungini Gabriev, do declare in front of these witnesses that upon the occasion of my death the Sword of Light will be bestowed to my oldest surviving daughter, Ynezza Gabriev Robsol."

"So, if Ynezza dies, do I get it, then?" Larsa asked.

"It would go to Jula." Ynezza said coldly, naming her own firstborn daughter.

"Oh, I see how it is." Larsa said, her voice like ice, "Mind, I don't agree about the aqueduct, but nice way of favoring Ynezza!"

And, before Gourry could run from the wall, she stormed out of the hut. For a brief moment Gourry hoped that in her anger she would overlook him, but she did not. She stopped when she noticed him and stared at him blankly. Then she smiled cruelly as she noticed him stiffen. He shook his head pleadingly but she yelled all the same, "Well, Gourry, what are you doing lurking about like a spider under the table? Oughtn't you be at home?"

In a flash his parents had spilled out of the house after Larsa, who stood back against the wall to watch. His mother grabbed him harshly by the arm as she demanded, "Didn't we tell you to head straight home after your training with Nes?"

"I-I…" Gourry stammered as his grandmother and Aunt Ynezza filtered out of the house. He never understood why it made his mother so angry that he wanted to spend time with his grandmother. "I forgot."

Eica lifted her hand. Lucia caught it, "There's no need for that." she admonished.

Gourry's stomach sank as Petry ordered Lucia to let go of Eica's hand while Eica's face reddened, "Don't you dare tell me what to do with my son, not after you go and pull this!"

"It's not Gourry's fault that you're not getting the Sword of Light." Lucia argued as she let go of Eica's hand. Eica wasted no time in grabbing Gourry and slapping him across the head. "Let him stay with me the night until tempers cool."

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Eica yelled as she pulled Gourry beside her. He felt his father put a hand on his shoulder, gripping it painfully, confirming Gourry's suspicion that the raging monster that lurked within his father had been awoken, "You've been looking for any opportunity to raise him for yourself since _I_ birthed him! It tears you to pieces knowing I managed what you never could! And now you want to ruin him by spoiling him!"

"Eica, I would never dream of taking your glory from you. But Gourry is a sensitive child…"

"And he'll never make a warrior with the way that you coddle him!" Petry yelled and Gourry's worst felt the warmth leave his body. When his mother got mad she would give him a good swat and it would be over. But when his father got mad it was much worse. Sometimes Gourry could defuse his anger by making him laugh, but he could not see that happening tonight. Around them other townspeople started to gather to watch the fight. Having an audience only made it worse. "Life is hard, and the sooner he accepts that the better."

Gourry bit his lip to suppress the tears he felt that were building as the fear and humiliation became unbearable, especially as Ynezza's children came up to the house after playing to watch. For a moment he feared that his father would beat him in front of the whole town just to prove that he could to his grandmother. It was only with the slightest of relief that his mother grabbed him by the ear and hauled him off to their house, followed by his father, while Lucia watched helplessly.

As she had liberated the aquifer from Hoarden, and as her own mother had been so revered Lucia had been given a certain amount of liberties with the townspeople. But no Elmekian would tolerate anyone interfering with the way that parents chose to handle their own children. Lucia's meager intervention of holding his mother back from smacking him was more than enough to draw the ire of the desert people.

And while his father had saved the beating for when they were ensconced within the four walls of their own small mud house with only his mother and siblings as witnesses, he had made sure to continue the beating until Gourry's screams could be heard throughout the town so that there was no doubt as to who was in charge.

Gourry lay on his mat that night, aching with pain and seething with anger and humiliation. His mother tended to him. It was not bad enough to send for his Aunt Anga, who was the closest thing the town of Biar had to a healer, but it was bad enough for her to stay up into the night to keep an eye on him as his father, brothers and sisters snored beside him. Confusion coursed through him as he wondered how his father, who could be so fun and loving, could also be so full of rage and hurt him so much. Sometimes he felt as though he had two fathers, the good one who tossed him into the air playfully, told him stories and taught him swordplay and the bad one who would emerge every now and then and beat him. The older he got, the more of the bad father he saw, and the more terrified he became that the bad father would kill him.

The only person Petry's rage never seemed to touch was Eica. No matter how mad he was with her he never raised a hand to her. Even after she had forsworn him, he never touched her harshly. Gourry wondered why, if he could keep the monstrous rage within him under control with Eica, he couldn't with his children. And Gourry feared that if he had children one day he would understand and find that same monstrous rage emerge from within himself.

Because Eica could stoke his anger. The morning after Gourry had been beaten Eica started to lament the small size of their tiny mud hut. She talked about how the families of other Gunginiel Knights had much bigger houses and they were the only ones who lived like paupers. Petri asked her how many houses of Gunginiel Knights she had seen and she dodged the topic, reminding him of the imminent arrival of another mouth to feed. Nine people crammed into a one room hut was simply too much.

But though she pushed and prodded, she had never expected Petry to do what he did next. The desert people had stringent rules about combat and killing one's kin, and Eica's Elmekian roots went deep. After it happened Eica had recoiled from her husband in horror and disgust, and she never recovered from the feelings of shame that had been birthed when she discovered what the man she had married was capable of.

Gourry stood up and looked out of the window and into the woods. He had to tell Lina. If keeping secrets and acting behind the other's back was what had destroyed his parents' relationship, then he would have to do the opposite. Even if telling her was one of the last things he wanted to do. He closed his eyes again and focused on the sounds coming from her room. Fairly certain that she was still awake he stood up.

From the woods, he heard the sound of a scream, following by a shrill whine and the thunderous crash of a powerful spell. In an instant he had left his room and had emerged into the hallway just as Lina opened her door. It looked as though she had changed back into her traveling clothes after his warning. "Let's go." She said.

He nodded as she ran to the window. Was this his brother's doing? Or something unrelated? Neither of his brothers could use magic, after all, but that didn't mean that they hadn't found someone who could. She unlatched the window and opened it and then reached out to grab his hand. When she missed it she looked at him. Irritation marred her features, "Get with it, Gourry!"

He had to tell her something about who she might be dealing with. But he hadn't wanted to tell her in this hurried manner. "Lina." He said quietly, "Be careful. I think that they're wanting revenge."

She raised an eyebrow, "Revenge? What makes you, dammit! We don't have time." She said, grabbing his hand and chanting a levitation spell.

As soon as they landed she ran off in the direction that the sound had come from, and he was hot on her heels. He naturally fell into a rhythm, allowing him to focus on his senses. But he could not detect any enemy. And he was concerned that he heard no more screams or explosions. Either the fight was over and decided or something fishy was going on.

It hit him as soon as he noticed the strange electric feeling in the air. What if they were being lured from the inn and into a trap? "Lina!" he called.

"Balus Wall!" she yelled, and the fire spell that was aimed at them was diverted instead to either side of them. Heat singed him on his right and left side, and his vison was compromised by the spell, but he was safe behind Lina, and she appeared to be unharmed.

The fire spell waned, but rather than regaining his vision, he noticed alarmingly that it was getting darker! "Lina!" he cried as darkness enveloped him and he reached a hand out to find her as his panic started to mount. He couldn't detect her presence. He couldn't see, hear, or smell! He couldn't detect anything!

"Lina!" he cried again as he started to paw at the darkness for her. But he was alone.

* * *

As the darkness descended upon her, someone grabbed her hand. Reassured by the familiar presence Lina followed as she tried to identify the spell that had darkened the night. It seemed like one hell of a twist on the Dark Mist spell. "Gourry?" she asked, but he was silent. But then, even her own voice was like a dim whisper. Had the spell not only impeded her vision, but her sense of hearing?

She kept walking, and gradually her vision improved as the spell faded away. But something was wrong. Somehow, the hand she was holding felt wrong! She focused on the man before her, his long blond hair falling down his back. A strange feeling grew in the pit of her stomach. From the back it looked like Gourry, but something wasn't right. She pulled her hand away.

"You okay, Lina?" he asked, and she shuddered. His voice was familiar, but different. There was an underlay of malice within it that set her hair on end.

"Who are you?" she asked as she chanted a light spell and stopped walking.

The man turned around, a cruel smirk on his face. Lina stared at him, stunned. The face was familiar but wrong somehow. The nose was slightly too long. The eyes were a bit too small and the face was too wide. But the face was also extremely familiar. He looked like Gourry, but at the same time he wasn't.

"Look at who tore the wool from her eyes." He said. "Game's up I guess."

Lina glared at him, "Who are you?" she repeated.

"So my dear brother never told you about me, did he? He just saw me earlier this evening." Mills said calculatingly.

"Brother?" Lina repeated.

"Guess he didn't find you important enough to introduce to the family." He said.

"Where's Gourry?" Lina asked, her ire rising.

"Hate to tell you, but he's going home. He's got to pay for what he's done."

Lina considered the man before her and sized him up. And while she was fairly certain she could easily take him down, she was also fairly certain that he absolutely meant to cause her harm. "Answer my question." She barked, "Where is he?"

"I told you, he's on his way home. There's laws in place for what he did."

"So he took the Sword of Light to stop you all from killing each other for it. Get over it and move on!"

The man laughed, "Is that the line he fed you? You silly little love struck fool."

Lina reddened as he continued, "He killed his own brother, Pollock, for it, and then he ran away before he could ever face up to it."

Lina took a step closer to him to close the distance. Then she grabbed his hair and pulled him down to her level. "Take me to him and have him tell me himself!"

He said something in a strange language, and the air started to vibrate menacingly. Lina let go of his hair and assumed a defensive posture as she found herself surrounded by a circle of trolls. Lina felt her patience flare. She didn't have time for this. She had to find Gourry!

She started chanting a spell. But even as she battled, her mind was distracted. Had Gourry killed one of his brothers? Gourry had been acting strange that evening, as though he was hiding something. Had he really met Mills earlier that evening? And why hadn't he told her?

 **AN:** **Thanks for reading so far. I had some questions about what is cannon and speculation on my part, so I decided to address that. First, officially we don't know much about Gourry's past. In the novels he mentions both a grandmother and his father once and briefly. Someone asked if his father was evil, and from the source material it's hard to say either way. We also know from interviews that Gourry had a brother who he was not fond of who died, and that it played a part in Gourry's decision to leave Elmekia with the Sword of Light. In an interview, Mr. Kanzaka says that Gourry's brother was like Raoh from "Fist of the North Star." I've not seen it, so I read a bit on the character and built my own interpretation based on what I've read. And since I don't have any interest in actually watching it myself, I'm probably going to get Raoh all wrong, but that's fine because I don't want this to be a rip off of something else :-)**

 **The other thing we know is that the Elmekian Empire is a desert where it rarely rains. People in Elmekia live in mud brick huts. The descriptions make it sound very bleak and impoverished. I'm adding a lot of what is known anthropologically about desert cultures and the effect that not having secure sources of food and water does to cultures and running with it.**

 **The other thing based on the books is the concept of the Gunginiel Knight. They are mentioned one time in the novels and there's not a lot of information about them, other than that they are in the Elmekian Empire and they are fighting demon uprisings. So I'm fleshing the concept out a lot.**

 **Everything else is speculation on my part, well, we the exception that the swordsman of light who slew Zanaffar was a woman. People who've read a lot of my stuff might have noticed I use the name "Gunther" a lot in reference to Gourry's brother, but there's nothing in cannon to base that off of. The Gunther thing is an inside joke between me and some people I knew in college, and because I hold onto the stupidest things, if I mention Gourry's brother his default name is Gunther. Let's just say it amuses me.**

 **Lucia is what I named Lina and Gourry's daughter in "Slayers Expecting" and I made a brief comment that she was named after Gourry's grandmother. Nothing supports it in cannon, but I decided to stick with the name, because it's a good name.**

 **Anyway, I hope this continues to entertain!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: To make it easier to discern past from present, scenes that take place in Gourry's childhood are italicized while those occurring in present time are not. I also had a questions about Rowdy, and as this is based solely off the novels he doesn't play a role in the story. Mr. Kanzaka was rather adamant in an interview that the events of "The Motion Picture" did not align with how he saw Gourry's family history. So no Rowdy.**

 _It was still dark when Gourry woke up. He wasn't sure, but it seemed there was still plenty of time to sleep before morning. He snuggled a bit closer to his mother but couldn't settle down. The air felt wrong, that was the only way he could explain it, even if he realized it made no sense. For a moment he wondered if his mother was going to have the baby soon, but she remained still and quiet. But then from his mother's other side he heard his father stir and get up._

 _Quietly Petry tiptoed to the entrance and left the hut, leaving Gourry confused. Was he going to the pit to use the bathroom? As he listened to Petry's footsteps he realized he was going in the wrong direction. Gourry looked to his other side where his siblings slept quietly in a line. None of them so much as stirred. Gourry debated what to do. Petry would be furious if he found Gourry following him, but Gourry could not shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen._

 _He realized that lying awake with the anxiety was going to be more than he could handle. Surely if he was quiet enough his father would never know he was following him. And he was fast enough that he could slip back into their house with Petry being none the wiser._

 _Slowly Gourry got up and walked to the door. Nes had taught him a little bit about masking his presence, and he put all of his training to use as he left the house and went out into the street. Up ahead he saw Petry slip into the hut his grandmother and Aunt Ynezza shared. Gourry's confusion grew. Why would he be visiting them this late?_

 _As silently as possible Gourry trailed behind him. While days in the desert were scalding, nights were frigid. He tried not to shiver too much least his teeth start chattering and he wished he'd grabbed his sandals. Finally he reached the entrance, and he lay himself flat against the wall and craned his neck in._

 _The hut was laid out similarly to the one he shared with his parents. Along the north facing wall his grandmother, aunt, uncle and their children slept on mats that they would fold up and put away during the day. It was lit solely by a small fire that was kept burning for cooking purposes, and as the flames danced around the hut he could see his father bent over his grandmother, his hand over her mouth as he drew something over her neck._

 _Driven by a compulsion to figure out what was happening that vanquished any fear he ought to have felt, he crept into the hut. Petry grabbed the sword kept by Lucia's side and suddenly checked behind his back. His eyes filled with rage to find someone in the entrance. "What are you doing here?" he hissed._

 _Before Gourry could respond his father had grabbed him roughly by the arms, letting go only to bring a blow across his face. Gourry was stunned as one of his cousins, Jula, started to stir. Gourry remained paralyzed with fear. What had happened? Why was his father here? What had he been doing to his grandmother and why was he taking her sword?_

 _Suddenly Jula started to scream as she stared at her hands and saw blood. "Shut up!" Petry ordered as he released his grip on Gourry and advanced on Jula. But Jula had turned to Ynezza and was trying to shake her awake. Why wasn't she waking up?_

 _Nestled between Ynezza and Olly was the youngest, Nona. Eventually her sister's screams woke her up and she started wailing, too. On Olly's other side was their only son, Ketcher, and he blinked awake, pulling his own hand up and his eyes widening to find it was blood stained._

 _Gourry watched horrified. Why were Jula, Ketcher and Nona covered in blood? And why, with all the screaming, were none of the adults waking up?_

" _What is going on here?" a new voice said, and Gourry turned to find Aunt Larsa standing in the doorway, her husband, Loty, behind her, her hand on her own sword._

" _Someone broke in and tried to steal the sword." Petry said as he moved to Gourry and put a threatening hand on his shoulder. "I walked in on him doing murder, but he got away."_

Murder?

 _Gourry felt as though his knees had turned into jelly. Stupidly he wondered who was dead as Larsa looked at her brother in disbelief. "You mean to tell me you had nothing to do with this?" she asked._

 _Petry's eyes flashed dangerously, "Are you accusing me of such an act of cowardice?"_

 _Other people were starting to filter from the other houses to see what was going on. Petry grabbed Nona, who was howling. "Get up!" he barked at Jula and Ketcher, "They're dead. You can stay with us."_

" _I'm not letting them live with you, their parents' killer!" Larsa snapped._

" _And you're going to feed kids that aren't yours out of the kindness of your own heart?" Petry shot back as he grabbed Jula, who pulled away._

 _He swore as Gunther and Pollock forced their way in through the crowd. "What happened?" Pollock asked._

" _I caught a man red handed slitting the throats of these three!" he said, indicating Lucia, Ynezza and Olly. "He tried to take the Sword of Light, but I stopped him before he got away with it."_

 _Gourry slowly sank to the floor. His grandmother was dead. So was Aunt Ynezza and Uncle Olly. The blow was so hard he felt as though he couldn't get any air into his lungs. Pollock sneered and then he went outside to address the crowd, "There's a murderer on the loose! Come on, we'll track him down!" he said._

 _Petry shoved Nona at Larsa, "You can have that one."_

 _He grabbed Jula and forced her to her feet. She screamed even louder in protest as she tried to make it back to her mother. "Get ahold of yourself!" Petry barked as he smacked her across the face._

 _Her screaming stopped as she was momentarily stunned only to resume. Petry started to pick her up and slung her over his shoulder and grabbed Gourry, who followed him mechanically. "You leave her with me!" Larsa demanded. "And the Sword of Light as well!"_

" _Can't. The sword belongs to Jula now. And as Ynezza's older sibling, I have to take responsibility for her."_

" _The hell you're going to give it to her when she grows up!" Larsa said. "Besides, murderers have no rights to children."_

 _Gunther drew his sword and lunged at his aunt, who cradled Nona closer to her as she ducked. "How dare you slander him!"_

 _Loty grabbed him from behind and pinned his arms to his side, "How dare you!"_

" _Leave him alone!" Petry bellowed as he took a few steps and grabbed Loty's hair._

 _The sequence of event became a blur of thrown punches, kneed stomachs, insteps, and flying blood. Everyone was yelling and hurling insults. Gourry moved to his cousins and they ducked into the far corner of the hut, hoping to stay out of the brawl that was consuming the tiny hut._

 _But then Petry stepped back, grabbed the Sword of Light and called, "Light come forth!"_

 _With a whir, the sword roared to life. Instantly the fighting stopped as Larsa's eyes widened. "You wouldn't!" she said._

" _Leave my son alone!" he spat._

 _Loty let go of Gunther and stepped back. He and Larsa moved so they were back against the wall, their eyes focused on the sword. Gunther went and stood beside his father, who glared at Loty and Larsa. "I will be taking my nieces and nephews as well as my sons home now. Unless you have any further complaints, Larsa?"_

 _Larsa stared at the sword resentfully and shook her head. "Take them." She said bitterly. "You took the lives of their parents, might as well take them._

 _Petry's eyes hardened as he moved across the room and brought the sword close to her face, "One more word of that and I'll cut your tongue out!"_

 _The color drained from Larsa's face as Petry continued, "If I hear a word that you are spreading such falsehoods I will cut your tongue out! You and I both know a stranger stole in here tonight and killed them! Understand?"_

" _Understood." Larsa whispered._

" _Good. Gunther, grab Nona. Gourry, Jula and Ketcher, with me."_

 _Gourry was not sure how he managed to get to his feet. He was so numb with shock he could barely feel them, but fear propelled him forward. Petry put a hand on his shoulder as they set out for their hut and Gourry felt his heart rate accelerate as he saw that the rage still burned in his eyes. WouldPetry go so far as to kill his own son to protect his secret? Because despite what Petry had said to Aunt Larsa, Gourry had seen it. Gourry had seen Petry slit his grandmother's throat! And Gourry was the only witness who was awake._

 _Gourry's heart pounded as he wondered if he would live to see the sunrise as they drew closer to their hut. His mother and older sister, Fyla, were waiting outside of the door for them to return. "There you are!" Eica shouted as she ran and held Gourry. "I heard there was a murder on the loose! And when I woke up you were nowhere to be found! I was so scared!"_

 _Gourry clung to her as she stroked his hair. But all too soon his father wrested him from her. "Petry!" she yelped as he grabbed Gourry and pulled him into the hut._

" _He was out of bed when he oughtn't have." He said mercilessly as everyone followed them inside. "What the hell were you doing out of bed?"_

" _I…" Gourry stuttered, his voice dry, "I was wondering where you were."_

 _Gourry noticed Petry's arm flex, and he threw his hands over his head defensively as Petry landed a hard blow. Gourry's arms protected his head, but at the expensive of breaking his left one. "You could have ruined everything!" Petry yelled._

" _Petry." Eica said as she put a hand on his shoulder, "What did he do? What happened? You're covered in blood and why are Ynezza's children here?"_

" _Shut up!" Petry roared at Eica, "Someone went and murdered my mother and Ynezza and her husband if you really need to know!"_

" _What?" Eica gasped._

 _Petry grabbed Gourry harshly, "I caught some stranger in their house. I would have caught him if Gourry hadn't interrupted. And now half the town thinks I done it!"_

 _Eica paled noticeably, "Petry," she whispered as Fyla wrapped an arm around her and stared at her father in disbelief while Ynezza's children huddled in a corner with Gourry's younger siblings, shock and fear keeping them still and silent._

" _It was all ruined because of you!" Petry roared as he turned back to Gourry, who felt himself being thrown face down over the table and he knew it would only be a matter of seconds before he felt the rod. Then there was nothing but the stinging pain as the Petry brought it down upon his back, his buttocks, his legs, anywhere he could. Petry struck him so hard Gourry felt as though his bones would shatter and break and he could feel his skin rend and tear. Gourry was not sure how long that beating last, but it seemed to go on for ages until finally for the first time ever Eica started pleading for Petry to stop._

 _Finally she threw herself against Petry's arm and maneuvered herself between Petry and Gourry. "Any more of that and you'll kill him!" she cried._

 _Truly, Gourry wasn't sure if it was because he was hurting so much on the inside or if it was because this beating had been more severe than others, but he did feel weaker. He focused on his newly orphaned cousins, who had never endured a beating, who were currently watching him petrified. He felt as though his grip on consciousness would slip at any moment._

 _Petry straightened and backed away from Gourry and moved towards his cousins, who cowered back in fear. Gourry wanted to do something to defend them, but he hurt everywhere! Moving was impossible. His mother hovered over him with a tenderness that was startling after the brutality he had experienced._

 _Petry grabbed the rod threateningly. "You see what I just did to my own son?"_

 _All three nodded, wide eyed with fear. "A strange man came in to your house and killed your parents and your grandmother." Petry said slowly and evenly, "And I fought him off before he could finish you. And if either of you says anything different, I will give all three of you a beating in front of each other that will make the one I gave Gourry here look like a slap on the wrist!"_

 _Gourry tried to take a deep breath, but breathing was painful. "Petry." Eica whispered, "I need you to run and get Anga. You really overdid it. And my pains are coming."_

 _His father continued to glare loathsomely at his cousins. "Do you understand me?"_

 _Thoroughly terrorized each of them nodded. He moved the rod towards them, causing them to flinch away in fear before he sat it down. "Fyla, get your aunt." He ordered._

 _Eica grabbed Petry's arm, "I asked you to do it! Fyla, take your siblings and cousins elsewhere for the night. Petry, you get my sister, and then you get the hell out!"_

 _Petry stared at Eica as Fyla started to gather the younger children and quickly usher them out. When his mother had had a baby before Gourry and his siblings would usually stay with their grandmother while Petry stayed with Eica, Anga and a few other helpers. But now Gourry was too weak to be moved and Eica had never sent him away before._

" _It was a stranger to this town." He said quietly._

 _The color drained from Eica's face as she started tearing rags to tend to Gourry's wounds with. Tears started to fall from her eyes. "I married a coward who kills people in their sleep."_

" _That's a lie Eica!" he hissed._

" _A coward who kills his blood kin!" Eica spat, "Dammit, Petry, I knew you were mad but…"_

 _Petry balled up his fist, and for a brief moment Gourry thought he was going to hit her. But suddenly her face bunched up in pain and she snarled, "Get my sister now!"_

 _Petry looked defiant, but finally went to fetch Anga. For the next few hours Gourry drifted in and out of consciousness. He was barely aware of Aunt Anga arriving and sending Petry away. There was an argument, but when Gourry came to again Eica was screaming and Anga and a few other woman from the village were talking encouragingly to her and Petry was not in the hut. Gourry watched terrified and wondered if his mother would also die. He would drift off and wake up every time his mother screamed. Sometimes he would find that Aunt Anga was tending his wounds, at other times she would tend to his mother. But throughout the ordeal he was terrified about what would happen to her. Was it normal for her to be in so much pain when she had a baby? Surely it couldn't be. It had to be killing her. He was going to lose his mother and grandmother all in one night!_

 _As the light from the dawning sun entered the hut Gourry was woken by the cry of a newborn. He opened his eyes and saw Anga attempt to put the infant on Eica's chest. Gourry's relief to see his mother alive and moving and that the baby was fine was short live. Before the infant reached her chest Eica brought her hand up in refusal. "Toss it to the dunes." She said._

 _Petry, who must have been lurking outside the door, came in. "Well?" he asked._

 _Anga glared at him, "A reject."_

" _To the dunes!" Eica yelled as she stared at Petry defiantly. "I will not accept another child from that man!"_

 _Petry looked stricken. For a moment Gourry feared he would erupt into another rage. But when he spoke his voice was flat, "You'll reject my child, after I have lost my kin?"_

" _After you murdered them!" Eica yelled._

" _No, Eica…"_

" _To the dunes!" Eica ordered one more time, and then she turned away from Petry. Gourry did not think she had looked at the baby once._

 _Anga cut the cord, without bothering to wrap it in any sort of blanket, she grabbed the baby and moved to the door. Petry blocked her exit. Anga glared at him coldly, "It's her right to reject it."_

" _You're already nursing an infant." Petry stated, "You can nurse mine."_

 _Anga's eyes widened as the baby wailed, "I'm not nursing a child whose mother refused it."_

" _You will this one." Petry said. "Eica's confused, she'll come around."_

" _I've got ten of my own to care for!" Anga said, "And I've got this town to care for, I can't burden myself with a reject!"_

" _You will." Petry said as he put a hand on the hilt of his sword, "Or there will be consequences. You enjoy not having to walk hours for your water, don't you?"_

" _The aqueduct belongs to us all!" Anga argued._

" _It belongs to me!" Petry said, "And you can use it only so long as you nurse my child."_

 _Gourry watched nervously as Anga stared at Petry with resentment burning in her eyes. "I had my doubts, but now I have none." Anga whispered, "You're a murderer of your own flesh in blood, and worse in their sleep. Now, get the hell out of my way while I take this to the dunes!"_

* * *

Gourry woke up in a panic as his head throbbed painfully as though he had been clubbed. He tried to get to his feet but could not. His hands were tied in front of him, and more bindings held his arms to his sides. He was tied down. "Lina!" he cried.

His panic continued to climb, and he forced himself to take a deep breath and to get a bearing on his surroundings. As he inhaled he noticed a scent that belonged to someone he'd not seen in years. Terror pounded through his veins. "She's with Mills." The voice was his. It belonged to one of the last people Gourry wanted to run into. He felt the warmth leave his body. "Mills is telling her all of the dirt about you. Looks like your ship has sailed."

"Gunther." Gourry said as stiffly as he could while he wondered where his sword was. And if Gunther suspected anything about its nature. He forced himself to calm down and focus on his surroundings. He could detect no sign of Lina, but it seemed as though another sorcerer was there. Likely the one who had helped Gunther with the spell. Plus a handful of minions. To his surprise a lot of them seemed to be chimeras. Had Gunther truly sunken so low?

"Time to come home, Gourry." Gunther said.

"Can't." Gourry said.

"Will. You're tied up and don't have much say in the matter." Gunther smirked, "Besides, by now that sorceress won't want anything to do with you!"

Gourry flexed his hands, but the knots held. His panic started to climb and he forced himself to take a deep breath. He reminded himself that while he was in a rather bad spot, he had been in far worse. He inhaled, noticing a new presence. A friendlier presence. Two people he'd not seen in a very, very long time. Help was close by!

"What do you plan to do with Lina?" he asked loudly, hoping they would hear him.

Gunther smiled, "Forget her. She'll probably run home to her folks, cry her eyes out for a few weeks, and take back to the road with a colder heart and a hatred of men and curse the sound of your name. You should be worrying about yourself. You have a lot to face up to back home But first," Gunther motioned to his minions, "Place his hands on the stone."

Gourry's eyes widened as from behind him three people grabbed him. He forced his arms to his sides tightly but his hands were bound in a manner that it was easy to bring them up onto a stone. He struggled, but between being tied up and overpowered there was little he could do. Gunther grinned cruelly, "Even the best swordsman can't do much without his hands."

Gourry let the fight go out of him, hoping to catch them off guard as Gunther brought an ax up. As he brought it down Gourry threw all of his weight to the left, hoping to roll away. But the man beside him pushed back harshly, doing all he could to hold him in place. There was a sharp pain of being cut, and Gourry cried out as he looked down. The ax had missed his left hand but gotten his right. It was not a clean cut, though. While he could see bone the hand was not completely severed. Gourry felt weak with shock.

Gunther lifted the ax up again and brought it down, and this time the bone cracked as Gourry yelled. But it was not completely severed. Even through the oozing blood Gourry could see a bit of bone still held his wrist and hand together. Gunther lifted up his ax once more, and suddenly his form was lit in the night as an explosion ripped through the camp. Gunther turned around, and the men holding Gourry down ran out towards the fight as more explosions went off. Gourry tried to get up to run, but even with the men gone the bindings around him made it difficult to move. A new presence came up behind him, "Relax, it's me."

He felt the ropes loosen as they were cut and relief washed through him. Slowly the young woman helped him to his feet and steadied him. She grabbed some bandaging and started to wrap his hand with it, "That will have to do for now." She said.

"Where's Nes?" Gourry asked.

"Here." His mentor said as he lifted Gourry's arm around his shoulder, "I've got your sword. We must run while they are distracted!"

Gourry nodded, and the three of them set off. At first he was able to make good speed, but soon he started to feel the effects of shock and blood loss. But somehow he kept going. He was fairly sure they weren't being pursued, but he did not feel as though he could trust his senses like he usually did. His wrist was throbbing too much, and all he wanted was to know where Lina was, a good healing spell, and some rest.

The trees thinned out abruptly and they found themselves in a town. "We're going to have to risk going to the inn." Nes said. "I need to tend to his wounds."

"It's over there." The woman said.

But Gourry finally honed in on the scent of the person he was desperate to find. He pushed Nes away and started walking unsteadily in her direction. "Gourry?" Nes said.

"Lina!" Gourry called.

Up ahead Lina turned around, her eyes widening, "Where the hell have you been?" she asked as she made her way over to him while Nes and the young woman caught up to him.

"Got held up." He said as he reached Lina and put his hands on her shoulders, more to keep himself standing than anything else. With a shock he realized he couldn't feel anything with his right one. Other than a few scrapes and bruises she looked unharmed. But her eyes widened when she saw the blood soaked banged on his right hand and took in his appearance.

"Gourry, what happened? Did they do this to you?" Lina asked, looking at his saviors suspiciously.

"They're friends." He said, as the feeling of light headedness too over and his legs felt weak beneath him.

All three of them caught him, "We've got to shelter and get a healing spell done." Nes said.

Lina looked at him warily, and it was obvious she didn't trust him, "I found one over here, come on."

They walked in an awkward silence for a moment as Gourry started to drift in and out of consciousness before Nes said, "I am Nes. I've been a friend to Gourry's family for a long time now."

"Lina." She replied hostilely, "And one of his dearly beloved brothers just tried to have me killed by a gang of trolls."

"So you've met Mills." Nes said, noting the way that Lina was looking at the other woman. "You must be the famous Lina Inverse."

She nodded as the inn came in to view, and then she considered the other woman, "Who are you?"

"Adena." She said firmly, "Gourry's never mentioned me?"

"Gourry never talks about his past." Lina said.

"Humph." Adena said, "I thought that at some point he would have mentioned his favorite younger sister. Once he's better I'll have to give him an ear full for that!"

* * *

" _Are you happy now?" Anga asked bitterly as Gourry lay on his mat, every inch of his body shouting in pain. "Petry is finally going to be building you that two room house."_

" _Shut your mouth." Eica said as she grinded the wheat. "I am not happy, nor shall I ever be again. To have married such a coward!"_

 _The baby started crying, but Eica ignored her. Anga sighed in exasperation, "Eica, please, accept your daughter."_

" _It is my right to reject it." Eica maintained. "The moment my confinement ends I am throwing it to the dunes."_

" _Make sure you let Petry know it was you and not me." Anga said, shaking her head, "Already he's gathered a posse of men to support him. He even got Priest Trebo on his side by offering to build a proper place of worship. The rest of the town is dead frightened of him. And Pollock has been letting this go to his head, if I told you the rumors I've heard it would break your heart…"_

 _Anga broke off as she heard footsteps approach and, scared it was Petry, she grabbed the baby and put her to breast, stopping her cries instantaneously. Gourry knew there was no reason to be scared. It was Nes. Nes who was supposed to take him to Gungini Hall and away from this. However, given the state he was in Gourry doubted he'd be able to travel anywhere. Even rolling over was unthinkable._

" _May I come in?" Nes said quietly as he entered the doorframe._

 _Gourry lifted his head off the mat as much as his aching body would permit, and then rested it back down as his Aunt Anga looked up from nursing two infants, one of them her own child. "Come in," Anga said, the resentment lacing her voice, "And if you're coming to take that one away, you're going to have to wait, he's not fit for traveling."_

" _Is there a fever running around?" Nes asked as he knelt beside Gourry, and then his eyes widened as he noticed the welts on his back._

" _Nope." Anga said._

 _Nes turned to examine Eica, who looked unusually unkempt as she prepared lunch. "Eica? Are you okay?" he asked._

 _Eica shook her head and said nothing. "She's been like that since Lucia, Ynezza and Olly died." Anga explained._

 _Nes looked as though he had been punched in the stomach. Gourry found it very difficult to breath. "Lucia's dead?" Nes repeated, the pain in Nes' voice mirroring the one in Gourry's heart._

" _And buried. Eica's been useless ever since. She won't even nurse her own newborn. And I've got a house full of my own kids to care for and don't have time to care for hers, but Petry says if I don't then he'll cut off our supply of water, so here I am wasting time…"_

" _Just leave her in the dunes." Eica said chillingly. "Better that than to be brought up with such a man for a father."_

 _Nes put a gentle hand on the back of Gourry's head as Eica and Anga argued over what to do with the baby. His hand trembled slightly as he struggled with his emotions while Gourry lay still. Down the road he could hear his father's footsteps. Gourry started to tremble and he struggled to steady his breathing to keep himself calm. It was hard when, in the aftermath of the worst beating he had ever suffered, his ribs were so bruised that breathing was excruciatingly painful._

 _Nes put his hands over him and started saying something, chanting more like. Gourry felt something warm encompass him as the pain started to ebb away. Eica and Anga stopped their arguing and looked at Nes in shock, "I didn't know you could do sorcery!" Eica exclaimed._

" _A little." Nes said as Petry entered the house._

" _Nes." Petry said, his voice somber as he placed a hand on his shoulder in greeting before moving to Eica and attempting to kiss her cheek. She pulled away. "Oh come now, Eica!"_

 _She looked at the bowl she was grinding the wheat in, her eyes set, "I don't want your hands anywhere near me!"_

" _I had nothing to do with it!" Petry exclaimed, "Ask Gourry here! Or Jula and Ketcher…"_

" _He's not been able to say one word since you beat him senseless!" Eica yelled._

" _He got in the way! I would have caught that son of a bitch if Gourry hadn't gotten in the way!"_

" _You expect me to believe…" Eica started._

 _Gourry felt the pain fade away as his strength returned, but his fear rose along with it as he wondered if Petry would snap again. Nes stared evenly at Petry, "I see you wear the Sword of Light now."_

" _I'm keeping it safe until Jula comes of age." Petry said, "Some man just stole into Mother's house and killed her in her sleep for it! I was too late to save her or Ynezza and Olly, but I managed to save the children and the sword before he got them. Anyway, it's not safe to leave in the hands of a little girl."_

" _I see." Nes said quietly. "There Gourry, try getting up now."_

 _Slowly Gourry stood up, his legs shaky and unsteady as he kept his eyes on Petry. "How are you feeling?" Nes asked._

" _Better." Gourry said quietly, not daring to take his eyes off his father._

" _Can you show me where they are buried?" he asked._

 _Gourry nodded. He'd not been able to attend the funeral, but he knew where the graveyard was. And he wanted to say goodbye. And to apologize. "Will you be taking him to Gungini Hall then?" Petry asked._

" _In the morning, yes." Nes said._

 _Petry eyed Gourry warily and Gourry felt his heart rate increase. What if Petry refused to let him go? Eventually Petry nodded._

 _Gourry kept waiting for Nes to question him as they walked to the graveyard. He feared the questions. What would he say? His father had threatened to beat him and all of his cousins again if he told the truth, and he believed that he would do so. But he couldn't let his father get away with this. But then what power did he, or anyone for that matter, have to stop him? He wielded the Sword of Light now. But Nes asked no questions. He remained silent, his face impassive._

 _As they approached the graveyard they realized they weren't the only ones visiting. Ynezza and Olly's three children, Jula, Ketcher and Nona, were lying by the graves. Gourry felt his guilt surge as he wondered how he could face them after his father had orphaned them. He wondered if they would tell him to go away, he wouldn't blame them._

" _Nes!" Ketcher shouted as he ran up and threw his arms around him._

" _You're okay!" Jula exclaimed as she hugged Gourry. Gourry felt worse even as he held her back. "I thought he wasn't going to stop until he killed you, too! I hate him so much!"_

 _Gourry did not have to ask her who she was referring to. Nes said in his soft voice, "Can you show me where they are buried."_

 _Jula nodded as she scooped Nona up and took him to three plots each headed by a barren rock. "Mom is here, Dad is there. And Grandma is there." She said somberly as she wiped a tear from her cheek._

 _Gourry kept waiting for Nes to ask for their version of events, but he never did. He knelt by Lucia's grave and clasped his hands to the headstone. Gourry suddenly thought about the healing spell Nes had performed on him and how it had healed his wounds and felt a well of hope open within him. "Nes, can use that spell on them that you used on me?"_

 _Nes' voice was strained when he answered. "Once someone has died, no spell can bring them back."_

 _Gourry felt something break within him, and the tears he'd been suppressing since that night started to flow. "I'm sorry." He said to Jula, Ketcher and Nona._

 _Nes pulled him into his lap while Jula put a hand on his back. "It wasn't you, it was that horrible man!" she said._

 _Gourry shook his head as he continued to sob. He missed his grandmother and aunt and uncle deeply. And the fact that his father had held the blade that killed them made it worse. How could he have done something so evil?_

 _And had Petry passed that evilness on to him? Did he have a monster lurking within, lying dormant and waiting to be provoked? Was he really evil? Would he hurt and kill those he loved?_

 _Gourry trembled in grief and fear as he lay with Nes and his cousins, baking under the hot desert sun. It was late in the day when they got up and made to return to Gourry's house. Gourry's nerves grew the closer they got to the house as he feared that he or someone else would set off Petry's rage. The anxiety increased as he heard yelling from within the house._

" _Wait outside." Nes instructed them, and the four of them drew to the wall. Jula was daring enough to look in through the window._

" _As her sister, I should be the one to take the children!" Aunt Larsa yelled. "Besides, I have less than you."_

" _Agreed." Eica said, "We have enough mouths to feed without them."_

" _As the oldest I have a responsibility to care for Ynezza's children." Petry protested, his voice shaking with rage over his wife's betrayal._

" _You forfeited that right when you…" Larsa started._

" _Don't you dare accuse me again of a murder I didn't do!"_

" _Good evening." Nes said quietly._

 _All three turned to stare at him. Larsa smiled, "Well, Nes, what do you think. Who should rear Ynezza's children?"_

" _I have a proposition." He said quietly, "Please understand. Lucia was a daughter to me, and now that she's dead it feels as though there is a hole in my heart that will never be filled. Eica, I know you are overwhelmed with your responsibilities. Pollock will be leaving home to marry in the fall, and I will be taking Gourry with me to Gungini Hall tomorrow of course. That should ease the burden somewhat."_

" _Yeah, I get two out, and gain three!" Eica said. "There's still an extra mouth to feed and care for."_

 _Nes nodded, "I was wondering if you would allow me to raise your newborn daughter."_

" _Not a chance!" Petry yelled._

 _Eica shrugged, "Feed it to the dunes for all I care. Or take it far away from me. I never want to set eyes on it again."_

 _Petry winced, "Eica, she's our daughter!"_

" _Better dead than to have to grow up and claim the likes of you as a father!" she spat. "I'd smother them all if I could! Better that than to let the bad blood spread."_

 _Gourry went cold as his mother's harsh words confirmed his deepest fears. Petry looked as though he was going to strike her. But Nes put a hand on his shoulder. "It is this place that corrupts people, Eica." Nes said gently, "Not the blood. Petry, I can provide a life for her that you cannot. Eica is worn out, and Anga can't keep nursing her and caring for her own children."_

" _How are you going to suckle her then?" Petry asked._

" _I won't. However, I know a recipe that creates a potion that human infants thrive off of."_

" _You travel all of the time, though." Petry continued._

" _Lately some of my pupils have asked to take my place in training the youngest of the Gunginiel Knights. It would be nice to stay in one place for a time until she is old enough. A place where there is plenty of water and food. Please let me have her, it would help me with my grief over losing Lucia."_

 _Petry thought for a moment, and perhaps realizing that if the baby stayed with him Eica was liable to kill her the first moment she could, he nodded._

" _Thank you." Nes said. "What are you calling her?"_

" _Adena." He said, his voice gruff._

 _Larsa folded her arms across her chest, "Well that's settled, what about Ynezza's children?"_

" _I was wondering if I could take them as well. That way neither of your families would be burdened." Nes said._

 _Jula grabbed Ketcher's hands in excitement. But Petry said, "Take them away from their town? Their family? Everything they know? No way in hell!"_

" _I agree!" Larsa said, "They musn't leave Biar! Their roots are here! But they also don't have to live with their parents…"_

 _Nes held out a hand, "This is just until they come of age. Then they will return to Biar and to their roots. And Jula can claim the Sword of Light at that time."_

 _Petry and Larsa eyed him. "So you mean," Petry said, "That you will take Jula, Ketcher and Nona, but you will leave the Sword of Light here until Jula comes of age?"_

" _That is correct." Nes said._

" _You mean leave the Sword of Light with me?" Larsa said, "Mother certainly did not want the weapon in the hands of some man."_

" _I will leave the two of you to fight it out over who gets the Sword of Light." Nes said evenly, "I just want the children."_

" _Done." Petry said._

" _Not so fast!" Larsa protested. "Jula may not want to leave the Sword of Light!"_

" _Jula!" Petry bellowed._

 _Jula stiffened, and on trembling legs she walked into the house. Petry glared at her. "Did you hear all this?"_

 _She nodded._

" _Well, what say you? Are you happy leaving with Nes and leaving the Sword of Light with me?"_

 _She nodded vigorously as she grabbed Nes' arm, "Please, just let me go with him, I don't care about the sword."_

" _There, it's settled." Petry said._

" _She's terrorized!" Larsa protested. "Are you really going to let him scare you out of claiming what's yours?"_

" _I just want to get away from here." Jula said, her voice shaking._

" _It's been decided then." Nes said standing up. "I shall take them with me tonight. Petry, I trust that Adena is with Anga?"_

" _Yes." He said._

" _I shall pick her up then. We will leave at dawn tomorrow."_

 _Gourry felt a weight lift off his shoulders. Tomorrow he would be leaving Biar and getting away from his father. And he wouldn't have to worry about what would happen to his cousins and sister. If they were with Nes he was certain they would be well cared for and out of his father's, and in Adena's case his mother's, reach._

 _Nes exited with Jula, "Follow me." He said._

 _They did. Jula asked, "Where will we be living?"_

" _Some place kinder." He said._

* * *

 _It was strange to part with his family that morning. Despite her bitterness to her husband and her spoken desire to smother all of her children, Eica could not stop crying as she held him tightly before letting one of his brothers or sisters have a chance to say farewell before grabbing him again. Pollock and Gunther clapped him on the shoulder and told him to make the family proud, while Mills said he wanted to come too. His sisters wished him well. And when his father hugged him Gourry stiffened in fear. Petry noticed and broke off the hug abruptly._

 _Eica would not look at Adena, but Petry held her possessively until Nes asked for her, and let her go reluctantly._

 _Gourry's brothers and sisters did not make eye contact with their cousins. While Pollock and Gunther ignored them completely, the rest made awkward farewells, though no hugs of farewell were shared. Eventually they finished their goodbyes and Gourry was off and leaving Biar for the first time in his life._

* * *

 _Gourry had been fast asleep when Adena started to cry. It had been a long day of traveling. His legs ached from walking through the dunes, but he wouldn't trade it for anything. He sat up and saw Nes shifting through his herbs to mix the potion he was using to feed Adena with. He got up and sat beside Nes. "Can I help?"_

 _Gourry liked babies. His mother had not thought it right that a boy would take such interest in them. But they were cute, playful and loving. Besides, Gourry looked forward to getting married and having children one day, so he would need to know how to take care of them. And he resolved to never beat them like his father did. He was going to the good father all of the time. He hoped. "Sure." Nes said, "Hold her while I prepare this."_

 _Gourry picked her up and cradled her in his arms, bouncing her slightly as he told her that food would be there soon. Eventually Nes finished the mixture and handed Gourry a dropper, and showed him how to use it to give her the potion. Eventually they had her calm and sleepy, and as she drifted off to sleep Gourry looked at her face. She was tainted with the same blood he had, but she didn't look evil. Was Nes right about it being something else? Gourry desperately wished it to be the case. Because then he could be the good father all of the time and not have to worry about the bad one ever coming out._

" _How come you never eat?" Gourry asked._

" _As I drink from the fountain of youth, it supplies all I need to eat and drink." Nes explained._

 _The fountain of youth. Nes always used it to explain why he never aged. "Will you take me to the fountain of youth one day?"_

 _Nes smiled, "One day."_

 _They were quiet for a bit, and Gourry feared that Nes would ask him the question he had been dreading since Nes had appeared. What would he say when Nes asked him if Petry had done it? Nes had stressed to him the importance of doing what was right even when it was hard. But Gourry was scared of what would happen if Petry learned that he told Nes. When Nes finally spoke he did not ask about Petry's guilt, though._

" _Sometimes we do the right thing, and the universe treats us unkindly in return." Nes said. "Sometimes, through no fault of our own, the universe throws pain and harm at us. And sometimes even though we have acted wrongly, we are rewarded. And sometimes it's hard to figure out what the right thing to do is."_

 _Gourry stroked Adena's cheek as she slept as he mulled over what Nes had said. Nes continued, "All of Lucia's children feel like my children. As do all of her grandchildren. I was scared of what would happen if I left your cousins with your father, and after losing Lucia and Ynezza I could not bear to lose another. Getting them safe was my priority, even if it meant leaving the Sword of Light with your father, and even though he got it through such repulsive means."_

 _Gourry exhaled. Nes knew Petry had done it. He didn't have to explain! "However, in my desperation to take them with me, I fear what suffering I may have left the townspeople of Biar to bear. Now that Petry has the Sword of Light, I fear what he will do with it."_

 _Gourry nodded. Already Gourry had heard rumors of Petry using threats and blackmail to bend the townspeople to his will. Anyone who disagreed with him or tried to stand up to him was threatened to have their access to the aqueduct taken away, and if they continued to complain Petry would grab his sword threateningly._

" _Yma, the woman Pollock is marrying, she doesn't want to do it. Well, not after what my father did." he choked on his words, "After it happened she changed her mind about marrying him. But Pollock said if she didn't her family wouldn't be able to use the aqueduct. At first she said she'd just walk to it like she used to, but then she changed her mind. But I don't think she really wants to do it."_

 _Nes closed his eyes. "Sometimes there's no good, perfect choice, Gourry." He said, "Sometimes we have to pick between two bad ones. I chose the lives of five people over the freedom of a town. I just hope the consequences of this aren't too dire."_


	4. Chapter 4

_It wasn't long after leaving the town of Biar that Gourry started developing stomach aches. Even though he had been desperate to leave Biar, he missed his mother and siblings tremendously, and soon became extremely homesick. He even missed his father, the good father. He missed the familiar sights and smells of the town he had spent his whole life in. The shock of leaving piled onto the grief of losing his loved ones in such a horrifying manner took a tremendous toll on him._

 _Nes became alarmed as Gourry stopped eating and lost weight. Gourry started to obsess over what would happen to his cousins and sister when they reached Gungini Hall. Scared of what could happen should he leave Gourry at Gungini Hall without them, Nes secured housing down the road which Gourry could visit every day during his free time. Secure in the knowledge that Nes and a few members of his family would remain close by, Gourry relaxed and settled into his new life at Gungini Hall._

 _And it turned out to be exactly what the young boy was needing. Gourry's day was highly structured. In Biar he was used to waking up, getting a few chores out of the way with and then spending the day playing in the neighborhood. But now he woke up at the first bell, dressed and made his bed and then went down to breakfast before going out to the yard to exercise. After exercises he had his classes in reading and writing, something he never saw the use of. No one in Biar knew how to write so it wasn't as if he could read letters they sent. But Nes said it was all part of the training, so he managed to figure reading out. He never progressed far in writing past learning to sign his name, though._

 _After lunch was the time Gourry loved best, because for hours he would be trained in the sword and battle tactics. He was an eager student and would often spend his free time honing his skills. Focusing on sword play gave him something other than his family tragedy to obsess over. To his surprise he learned that a lot of what Nes had taught him that had not seemed related to swordplay helped him to develop his skill. Keeping his senses open helped him to figure out where his opponent was going to strike, and the breathing techniques helped him to control his emotions so he did not act stupidly while feeling intense emotions such as fear, anxiety or anger._

 _While learning the sword was a painful undertaking that involved taking a lot of hits, Gourry didn't feel powerless while learning it like he did when his father would hit him. He would be paired off with an older knight, both of them armed with a wooden practice sword, and messing up resulted in a firm whack. But it was different than being hit by his father. His opponent wasn't in an out of control rage for one thing. For another Gourry knew that if he learned to block better he could control whether or not he was hit in the first place! The sense of control was powerful, and a strong motivator to practice often and train hard._

 _Gourry liked his instructors. They were full-fledged knights who alternated between doing good deeds in the Empire and teaching their skills. In the knights, Gourry found a group of people who were like him. Back home people didn't understand how overwhelming it could be to hear and smell all that he did. Shifting through the important versus extraneous background sounds could be tiring. Back home adults would rap him on the head for not paying attention, but the knights knew how distracting it could be to focus on what someone was saying when you just realized that five hundred feet away the footsteps of someone you wanted to see were ringing._

 _They also didn't think it was strange for him to be so in tune with what others around him were feeling. His parents told him he needed to toughen up and not worry so much about other people's feelings. But it was hard because he felt for others so easily. Nes said that it was common for knights, whose senses were amplified, to be highly empathic. Gourry wasn't sure what that meant, but he learned that he was not the only one whose parents showed him a stern hand for being too soft. In fact it was something he bonded with the other children over._

 _Nes said it was why the Gunginiel Knights were so respected. While they made the perfect warriors, by their sensitive nature they were also the least likely to abuse the gifts they were imprinted with._

 _The days passed and grew into years. The horrors he had escaped receded from his mind as he grew tall and strong and was soon regarded as one of the best swordsmen Gungini Hall had ever seen, if not the very best. Nes remained down the road with his cousins and sister. His cousins adjusted while Adena, who had known nothing of the harness of life that they had escaped from, flourished._

 _Then when he was seventeen one of his instructors, Aigen, told him he was ready to start training the newbies. What started as a proud moment crushed under the horror of the reality of actually teaching swordplay to small, young children. Every time he whacked a kid on the back, ribs or legs with the wooden sword when they failed to defend themselves he felt himself recoil in disgust as memories of his father beating him surged in his mind. While the kids took their blows stoically and while Gourry knew that you were never going to learn to protect your back without getting whacked a few times, he couldn't hold back the feelings of revulsion he felt with himself as the old worries of whether or not the bad father would manifest within him resurfaced._

 _He fled as soon as the lesson was over, but Aigen had noticed and followed him. When she caught up to him she put a hand on his shoulder as he trembled and tried not to throw up, the stomach ache he'd not felt in years returning with a vengeance. All Gourry could think of was his father bringing the rod down upon him and his burning desire to not be anything like his father._

" _As big of a pain in the ass it is, remember, this is our strength." Aigen said._

 _Gourry shook his head, "It doesn't feel like a strength."_

 _Aigen moved so he was forced to look at her, "This is the reason we don't abuse our strengths. Because we feel other's pain we hate inflicting it, only doing it when necessary. Because of this we don't hurt others for sport or pleasure or because we've had a bad day..."_

 _Gourry suddenly laughed a hollow, gallows laugh. "What?" Aigen asked._

 _Relief washed through him. After his father would beat him or his siblings he would usually sit down and have a drink without being perturbed by his actions. The sight of his children lying on mats for weeks as they recovered from his brutality failed to move him. Aigen was right. And the fact that he was feeling bad was a tangible difference he possessed that differed from his father. "You're right. And it's just such a relief to know you are, that's all."_

 _Aigen smiled as she patted him on the back, "Come on, you did well. And they should be serving dinner soon."_

 _The relief had so completely displaced the fear he had been feeling that his appetite returned with a vengeance. He straightened to follow her to the hall. "Aigen," he said quietly, debating whether or not to ask the question that had been bothering him the closer he came to coming of age, "Have you ever had to kill someone?"_

 _If she was offended by the question she did not show it. "I have."_

" _What was is like?" he asked quietly._

 _He noticed how she tensed slightly, and when she spoke it was very deliberate, "It's not pleasant. At times it's unavoidable, though I suppose you're always going to wonder if it could have been avoided. One time I had to kill a duchess who had developed a taste for abducting and murdering children from the village. She believed that bathing in their blood would keep her young. There was nothing I could do then, if I even tried to have her locked away the Emperor would have campaigned for and secured her release. That duchess's brother is the Emperor's closest friend. I don't lose too much sleep over that one._

" _But then there are times where it's less clear cut. Sometimes you have to make a decision so quickly and then you find out something later that you wish you knew at the time, but it's not worth going down that path. We can't change the past, we just have to work on doing better. And bear in mind at all times that taking a life is not to be taken lightly."_

 _Gourry was silent as he thought about what she said as she put a companionable arm around him, "Enough about that. I noticed that you and Ardla were rather chummy at lunch."_

 _He blushed a little, "Yeah, we're getting along well." He admitted as she smiled and made odes to young love as they made their way to the dining hall. He ate hardily, and then went down to the village for a few hours to visit Nes and his family, before returning to Gungini Hall for his night exercises and before going to bed._

 _He lay awake in bed for several minutes after he woke the next morning, his pulse racing and his senses open for anything threatening or dangerous. But he was safe in the dormitory along with his dorm mates. He exhaled in relief. Nine years had passed since he had settled in Gungini Hall, but still the dream of being chased by his father through the dunes plagued him when he least expected it. He inhaled deeply, relaxing further as he thanked his lucky stars that none of his dorm mates had woken. But his stomach was hurting._

 _Slowly he got up and went to the window and looked out at the sky to get a bearing on how long he had until the morning bell sounded. By the position of the stars he determined that he had an hour. Deciding that it would be pointless to go back to bed only to have to wake up in a few minutes he instead made his bed and dressed. One of the first things he had learned after coming here was how to get dressed in full armor in under five minutes. He ran a hand through his hair and grabbed his sword and quietly made his way to the hallway._

 _Only the youngest of his dorm mates stirred as Gourry left. One of the things that surprised Gourry when he arrived at Gungini Hall was how few trainees there were. While it was highly desired, it was also highly unusual to successfully birth one. When Gourry had arrived he was one of twelve trainees. Now he was one of fourteen. The boys stayed in one dorm, the girls in the other. There were two other rooms that were used as dining rooms, meeting rooms, or classrooms depending on need. It wasn't much, but it was the largest building Gourry had ever been in._

 _Gourry went outside and felt himself relax as he breathed in the clear morning air and went through the calming motions with his sword as he wondered why he would have the dream now. Dawn broke and the bells rang, and Gourry headed for breakfast. It was their free day, so there would be no classes. He alternated weeks between spending one free day wandering through the town with his friends and other weeks spending the day with his family. This week was a family week._

 _He got there just as they were finishing breakfast and his cousins were heading off to work. He talked to Nes for a bit before he left for errands, and then entertained Adena and made her lunch. It was late in the afternoon while eating apples on the porch with her that he noticed a familiar footstep down the road. But the smell was confusing him. It was at once familiar and foreign. "Wait here." He told her as he stood up and started to walk down the road, wondering why Pollock would come here._

" _Gourry!" Pollock said as he became visible and opened his arms wide for a hug. Beside him Gourry saw a young teenager and, though he had not seen him in years, he was able to deduce that it had to have been Mills, "You have grown! I wouldn't have recognized you if you didn't look so much like Gunther. Except you're a good deal taller than him now."_

 _Gourry gave him a hug, "How are you?"_

" _Well! And would you recognize Mills?"_

" _I'm not the only one who's grown taller." Gourry said as he gave his younger brother a hug. It felt exhilarating to see them again, but it was also nerve wracking. People didn't travel in the Elmekian Empire without good reason. "How are things in Biar?"_

" _Business is booming. Did you know you're an uncle now?" Pollock asked as Gourry shook his head as they continued to the hut. No one in his family could write and Nes had not traveled to Biar since he had taken Gourry. Pollock continued, "Officially I've got four daughters and am hoping the one coming in the fall is a boy. Unofficially there are a few more. For whatever reason everyone but my damn wife can produce a son!" He added with a grin as Gourry felt his respect for Pollock crumble. Whatever else his father had done he had been faithful to their mother. The cruel way Pollock talked about his wife was nauseating, "Fyla has one of each and was due to deliver another when I left. And Gunther had a son."_

" _Wow!" Gourry said, "Things sure have seemed to change since I left."_

" _They have. You wouldn't recognize Biar. Did you hear we found a diamond mine? We have actual buildings there now!" Gourry looked at Pollock's clothing, noting the cut and material. He sure had seemed to move up from the plain homespun clothes he had known all his life. He even wore jewels on his jerkin! "My goodness, this must be Adena!" he exclaimed as they reached the hut._

 _Adena looked warily at Pollock who opened his arms wide in greeting. He laughed at her puzzled expression, "Well, of course you wouldn't remember me! You were just a small babe when you left. I'm your oldest brother, Pollock!"_

 _Adena looked questioningly at Gourry, who nodded. Cautiously she let him hug her. "You smell funny." She said._

" _Adena." Gourry said._

" _It's the tobacco. Do you want to try some, Gourry? We've established a trade route and it's the best thing to come through it."_

" _No," Gourry said. If the smell was that overpowering he didn't actually want to inhale it. But at least it explained why Pollock smelled different._

" _Are you another brother of mine?" Adena asked Mills, "You look a lot like Gourry did when he was younger."_

" _Yes, I'm Mills. Didn't Gourry tell you about me?"_

" _A little." She answered truthfully._

 _Gourry looked at the sky. He still had lots of time before he had to be back at Gungini Hall, "Why don't you come in and have a drink? Nes is out I'm afraid, but he'll be back before nightfall."_

" _I'd love a drink." Pollock said._

 _As they entered the hut Gourry explained, "Jula, Ketcher and Nona are in town. Jula started a business and Nona helps her a lot and Ketcher was apprenticed to a glassblower. Usually they stay late with their friends before returning."_

" _Jula will be eighteen soon." Pollock said pointedly as Gourry grabbed some glasses and found the ale._

 _Gourry knew he was referencing her intentions about the Sword of Light. "You'll have to talk to her about that." He said as he poured the ale into three glasses._

" _Can I have some?" Adena asked._

" _Nice try." Gourry said as he easily put it on the tall shelf and out of her reach._

" _I can levitate now!"_

" _Nes is going to rue the day he took you to that guild." Gourry muttered as he found some milk and poured her a glass._

" _Guild?" Pollock asked, "Sorcerer's Guild?"_

 _Gourry shrugged, "She has a knack for it apparently. Anyway, what brings you out here?"_

 _Pollock drank the whiskey in one gulp, "Bad news I'm afraid. About a week before I left Mom collapsed. She's alive, but Aunt Anga says it's only a matter of time."_

 _Gourry looked at the drink in his hand, downed it, and sat down, feeling weak. "Oh." It was all he could think of to say._

" _I know your training is important, but surely you can take off some time to…"_

 _Gourry waved his hand, "It happens. I've seen it. I can take the time."_

 _Gourry just wasn't sure how he felt about going home._

" _Can I come too?" Adena asked._

 _Pollock grimaced, "Sorry kid."_

" _Why not?"_

 _Pollock looked at Gourry, who struggled to find a way to explain, "It would hurt her too much to see you because she couldn't raise you."_

" _But why couldn't she raise me?" Adena asked. While Gourry had tried to explain countless of times in a way that wouldn't hurt her, she never seemed satisfied with the answer._

 _Gourry pulled her into his lap and gave her a hug, "She was old and tired, and she knew you'd have a lot more fun with Nes and me."_

" _And once Mother dies, Father wants you to come home, you know." Pollock said._

 _Gourry stiffened as Adena asked, "What about Dad?"_

" _Dad?" Pollock asked, confused, "You mean Nes? Is he trying to take…"_

 _Gourry put a hand on his arm, "Adena insists on calling him 'dad.' Nes tried to discourage it, but he's raised her since she was a baby so it's natural for her to think of him that way."_

 _Pollock looked livid as Mills said, "She has a father! It wasn't his fault that Mother…"_

 _Gourry placed a gentle hand on Mills' arm, "Come on you two, you know Nes, he wouldn't try to take Father's place."_

" _He should have beat it out of her as soon as she started with that nonsense!" Pollock yelled, and Adena slowly backed away into the corner. "And if I hear her do it again, I will!"_

 _Gourry moved between them, "There's no need for that. And Nes is her guardian and this is his house and he does not approve of giving beatings, and you will respect that."_

" _I'm her blood, I have more sway over her than some old friend! Especially one who hasn't been instilling the proper respect in her!"_

 _Gourry felt his blood pound through his veins as his heart rate accelerated and he saw that same fearsome rage burning in Pollock's eyes that he so often saw in his father's. But he was no longer that small, frightened child. Hell, he was taller than even Pollock now! And he knew how to defend himself._

 _But before it even got to that point the door opened and Nes walked in. Adena ran to him and wrapped her arms around him possessively, "They want to take me from you!"_

 _Nes placed an arm around her, "Do they now? Is it safe to assume your mother is unwell?"_

" _Unwell?" Pollock mimicked, "She's dying!"_

 _Unperturbed by the hostility in Pollock's voice Nes set some packages on the table, "I am saddened to hear it. It would seem that there is much to discuss. And you two must be exhausted from your journey. Have a seat while I prepare some food. Gourry, why don't you take Adena into town and fetch your cousins?"_

 _Gourry could think of a million reasons why not. One of the top being that in all the time he had known Nes, he had never seen him lift a hand to defend himself, nor had he ever instructed another in sword play. Seeming to read his mind Nes put a gentle hand on his shoulder, "I will see you in a few hours."_

 _Gourry took a deep breath and put a hand around Adena's shoulder and guided her out. Once they were far enough away to not be overheard she asked nervously, "Do you think Dad will make me go with them?"_

" _Nes won't leave you." Gourry said. Of that much he was sure of. Even if Adena had to return to Biar he was sure that Nes would stay close. But he was less sure that he would be able to protect her from his father's rage. Gourry felt his stomach twist in knots. Never before had he considered the possibility of his mother dying and Petri wanting to reclaim her. And if she went to Biar he wouldn't be able to go with her. He had his training to complete, and after that missions to attend to. The thought of her suffering through their father's brutality chilled him to the core._

" _Was he serious about beating me?" she asked._

" _Neither Nes nor I won't let him." Gourry said._

 _She was quiet for a moment, her expression contemplative, "Is that why she gave me up? To protect me so they wouldn't beat me?"_

 _Gourry's eyes widened as he wondered where she had drawn that conclusion. But after his initial shock cleared, he quickly realized it would be kinder for her to think that than the truth. He was about to tell her that it was exactly that that compelled their mother to give her up, but then he thought better of it. If she had to go home she would quickly find out the truth, that she was a reject, and from someone who cared about her feelings a hell of a lot less than he did._

 _He wrapped an arm around her and squeezed her gently as he took a deep breath and failed to swallow the lump in his throat away. His mouth was dry as he wondered where to start, how best to break it to her, and realized that even doing it in the kindest manner he knew how it was still going to hurt._

* * *

" _Nes kept warning me that something like this was going to happen, that I was going to have to start thinking about whether or not I wanted to assert my right to the sword." Jula said quietly, "But I just couldn't see how it would all come crashing into my life like this again."_

 _Gourry walked beside her while Ketcher walked on her other side. Behind them Nona was attempting to console Adena, who had been in a morose mood since Gourry had explained the circumstances of her birth. "Pollock was trying to figure out what you wanted to do about the sword." He said._

 _Jula exhaled. "Well, I hate that that man has it. And if my mother knew I was even thinking about rolling over and letting him keep it, it would kill her all over again. But I've got a good business going here, and Lex asked me to marry him! And really, what am I? A young shopkeeper and whatever talent our family has had with the blasted weapon missed me completely. I'm not a fighter."_

 _Gourry put a hand on her shoulder, remembering how after they had arrived at Gungini Hall Nes had attempted to arrange to have Jula and Ketcher instructed in swordplay, but neither wanted anything to do with it. Both put their full efforts into eking out a life in a new town and forgetting as much as they could about the sordid circumstances that led to their self-imposed exile. "I don't think anyone would blame you for not wanting to go back."_

" _I worry about what that man is doing though, especially after what you told me about Pollock."_

" _But maybe it's not that bad, though." Ketcher said. "I mean, we keep thinking these horrible things, but may be he's settled down now that he has everything."_

" _That's a very childish way of thinking." Jula said as she folded her arms across her chest, "He's evil, and considering the lengths he went to get the sword I'm sure he's doing even more vile things now!"_

" _Maybe it's good that Gourry has to go to Biar then." Ketcher persisted. "He can see how it is, let us know what's going on. And if it's not too bad, we can leave it be. But if he's being a tyrant, then maybe we should figure something out. I mean with Nes and then Gourry's skills, I'm sure we could figure out a way to get it."_

 _Gourry's stomach was now aching so badly he wasn't sure how he was going to be able to tolerate dinner. What if his father really was horribly misusing the Sword of Light? Could he really fight him over it?_

" _We can't ask Gourry to fight his own father for it!" Jula protested, "No, if he's misusing it I'll have to figure out how to get it on my own."_

 _But Gourry knew that her odds of succeeding were nil. Fighting his father over a sword was the last thing he wanted to do. But Jula and Ketcher were right. If he was abusing the townspeople with it Gourry couldn't let it continue. A sense of resentment grew within him as he wondered how he could fight for the Sword of Light without becoming his father._

" _I'll let you know how things are in Biar." Gourry said quietly, "And if I need to, I will fight beside you."_

 _She patted him on the back, "Your word all I need and nothing more. If you say I need to act, I will, if not, then I'll forget everything about Biar. I mean, if I can't trust you to do the right and moral thing, who can I trust?"_

* * *

Together Lina, Nes and Adena got Gourry on the bed. Lina swiftly chanted a light spell noting how pallid and sweaty he was. Her eyes trailed to the blood soaked bandage that covered his right hand and she feared just how bad it was as Adena lifted his feet. Nes started to unwrap the bandage, and as soon as he removed the cloth and unwrapped it Lina felt the air go out of her.

"What did they do to him?" she hissed.

"They tried to cut his hands off." Nes explained calmly as he examined the wound. "He's a better swordsman than the rest of them."

Lina shook her head as she stared at his mangled wrist, just barely connected to his arm, and felt sick. While she could save him she wouldn't be able to save his hand. If Amelia or Sylphiel had been there one of them might have been able to, but Lina was doubtful that even then there was anything to do save regrow it, which took time. Lots of time, "This is beyond my abilities."

Lina looked at Nes and tried to get a read on his abilities. He wore simple robes that didn't give much away. Under her light spell Lina could now detect the faint resemblance to Gourry that Adena shared. It wasn't as overpowering as that between Gourry and Mills, but it was there in the curve of her nose and the shape of her lips. The way Adena dressed indicated she knew some magic, possibly shamanist, but she did not have the aura of a powerful white magic user. Nes continued to stare at the wound and finally said, "I can heal him, but it's too late for that hand. I'm going to have to sever it completely and then regrow a new one."

Lina looked at him skeptically, "You can regrow limbs?"

"Yes." Nes said calmly as he reached into his robes and pulled out a bag.

"That's not something that the average person walking through the woods can do." Lina continued. "Besides, even in Saillune, it takes a lot of time and…"

"I know a few tricks that are not known even in Saillune." Nes replied as he got out a thin knife and some vials of potion.

Lina was feeling uneasy. Gourry had said that Nes and Adena were friends, but he was also suffering from a severe loss of blood when she found him. What if this was a trap? Nes grabbed a towel and set Gourry's arm on it. He grabbed the vial and shook it. "What's that?" Lina asked accusingly as she grabbed Nes' arm to prevent him from administering it.

"Something to help him fight off infection." Nes replied casually, thoroughly unaffected by her hostility. He handed it to her but Lina did not reach out to take it.

Should she try to run with Gourry? No, with their combined weight it would be impossible for her to levitate quickly enough for them to get away. Besides, the longer he went without any care the more likely he was to bleed out and die.

And if they really wanted to harm him they would never have let him get to her, would they? She struggled to listen to what her intuition was telling her, but she could not hear it over the chaos of confusion of the situation she had found herself in.

"I'm afraid I don't have the time I need to gain your trust." Nes said as he forced the vial into Lina's hands and carefully positioned Gourry's arm on the bed. "If I don't do this now the consequences could be dire."

Lina felt unusually paralyzed as Nes precisely severed Gourry's hand. While Lina didn't know enough to pull it off herself, she could tell that he knew what he was doing and possessed a surgical skill that whoever first attempted to hack it off did not. She held the vial he had given her tightly as he started to chant a spell. Lina's eyes widened. It was not the typical resurrection spell! In fact, she had only known one person who used that spell.

 _Does that mean that Nes is…?_

Feeling more secure that she could trust Nes she leaned over and lifted Gourry's head and poured the vial into his lips. He swallowed reflexively. As she moved her hands away she could not help but stroke his hair before moving them back to her side. It was a move that did not go unnoticed by Adena.

"Is that something you do often?" she asked.

"Huh?" Lina asked as she watched as a white light encompassed Gourry's wrist.

"Stroke his hair?" Adena asked before she proceeded to launch a series of questions in a quick, lightning fast manner leaving Lina feeling as though she was being interrogated. "Are you two close like that? You've been traveling with him for a long time, right? I mean, are you my sister-in-law? Or going to be?"

Lina turned bright red, "I think we have more important matters to sort out! Starting with who did this!"

"Gunther." Adena said as though it should be obvious.

"And just who is Gunther?" Lina asked.

"Wow, you were serious when you said Gourry never talks about his family! Glad to know it wasn't just me he left out. I guess nothing much has changed, he never talked about them much growing up. To answer your question Gunther is our brother."

Lina shook her head as she struggled to figure out who was who in the strangely complex family drama she had found herself thrust into. No wonder Gourry had left home and never talked about the place! "Just how many brothers do you have?"

"Four. Well, full blooded anyway. Father started a new family after Eica died. Gunther, Gourry and Mills. And Pollock, but he's dead."

Pollock. Lina was silent for a moment as Nes continued to chant, "Is it true that Gourry killed him?"

"That's the question, isn't it?" Adena replied cryptically, "There are so many stories about what happened. The truth changes depending on who you talk to. Make no mistake, though, even if Gourry did it, Pollock had it coming to him."

Lina felt her stomach flip as she watched as the stump that was now Gourry's hand started to grow and expand and take the form of a new hand. Adena talked about fratricide as casually as one would changing the bed sheets. "Wow," Adena said softly as she saw the expression on Lina's face, "He really didn't tell you anything, did he?"

"He told me that his family was fighting for it and he stole the Sword of Light to stop the fighting." Lina said, feeling strangely desperate to show that she knew something.

"Well, that's the short version sure enough." Adena confirmed, "But I guess you're wanting the full, gory details. Hmm, where should I start?"

* * *

"I noticed you didn't eat breakfast." Lina said quietly so as not to wake up Gourry or Adena.

"I don't have much of an appetite. Go on and get some rest." Nes said quietly.

"Not that I wouldn't mind a good sleep," Lina said casually, "but I never do when an enemy might attack. When this is all over I'll probably crash for a day or so. Just ask Gourry when he wakes up. Anyway," she said, her voice becoming more serious, "That spell you used to regenerate his hand, I've only heard one other person use it."

"Have you?"

"Yes, someone we've traveled with on and off. His name is Milgasea. Do you know him?"

"I do." Nes said quietly.

"It's not everyone who knows him." Lina continued. "We first met when I decided to visit the Kataart Mountains to ask to see the Clair Bible."

"That was rather brazen of you." Nes observed.

"There were extenuating circumstances." Lina said as she stretched. "So, how do you know him?"

"He's my uncle." Nes said quietly.

"So you're a golden dragon!" Lina pounced.

"I've been found out. Is that why you decided to trust me?"

"Yeah, I couldn't reconcile a golden dragon using tricks and deceit just to hurt him."

"It seems you are very protective of him."

Lina stiffened as she started to ramble, "Well, we're partners you know. I mean, he says he's my guardian or whatever, but really I'm always having to look after him and…"

Lina was cut off as Gourry started crying out in his sleep as he thrashed around the bed, nearly knocking her off of it. She grabbed him firmly by the shoulders and yelled, "Wake up!"

Nes and a newly awoken Adena stood beside her as his eyes shot open and he took in where he was and who he was with before noticeably relaxing. Adena moved forward, pushed Lina out of the way and hugged him. "You came." He said quietly.

"We would have years earlier." Adena said, "But Gunther had people tailing us. We couldn't risk bringing them to you. When we heard he was going to pull this, though, we knew we had to act."

Gourry patted her on the back, and then pulled away abruptly and looked at his hand. "Not even a scar! And my calluses are gone."

"I had to amputate the old one and regrow your arm." Nes said quietly, "I'm afraid you're going to have to earn new calluses."

Gourry exhaled as he stared at it, "Better that than being without it. How have you been?" he asked as he pulled Nes into a firm embrace.

Nes patted him on the shoulder as he pulled away, "We have been doing well."

Gourry smiled at Adena, "You've grown so much! I guess I still thought of you as a little girl."

She glared at him, "Sounds like you didn't think about me too much! Did you even tell her that you had a sister?"

"Well, thinking about you was just too painful." He said quietly. "I missed you so much but there was no way I could see you, and it was just less painful not to think about you, or what happened."

"What did happen?" Lina interjected, her arms folded across her chest, her expression unreadable.

"Did Mills hurt you?" Gourry asked.

"I'm fine." Lina said, "But I'm pissed. Why didn't you tell me what was going down?"

"I panicked." He said quietly.

"That's not like you." Lina said.

His face became stony. "Well, what do you want to know?" he asked, his voice resigned.

Lina glanced at Adena, "Well, she filled me in on the sordid details, so I understand what went down and who the major players are. I guess right now we need to figure out the best way to send them packing."

He relaxed a little. Had he really ducked out of having to talk about it? Or would Lina grill him as soon as they took care of Gunther? He looked into her eyes, so set and serious but burning with anger and became nervous. Oh, she was going to grill him good when this was over!

But then, there was a measure of comfort in knowing that even after what had happened and after the knowledge of the horrible things his family had done, Lina was still here and ready to fight beside him. His heart warmed, and hope grew within him that he had not irreparably harmed things between them. And now Nes and Adena were back, and they didn't seem mad at him. Their support meant the world to him. And with them by his side, he knew that somehow things would turn out all right.


	5. Chapter 5

_Somehow Nes had smoothed things over so that when Gourry had returned with Adena and his cousins that evening things passed smoothly. It was agreed that Adena would remain with Nes for the time being, and that once Eica died he would bring her to Biar to meet her family. Everything else would be worked out between Petry and Nes._

 _Gourry left early the next day with Pollock and Mills for what turned into a seven day journey through the treacherous dunes. Both were eager to test themselves against the legendary training Gourry had received as a knight. Pollock was skilled enough, but still leagues below Gourry's level. Mills was just lamentable. But Mills has ways of making Gourry feel uneasy just as Pollock was starting to make him seethe with disgust over his general disdain for people._

 _By the time they reached the newly found diamond mines that lay outside of Biar Gourry was barely speaking to them. If either had noticed his brooding silence they said nothing. Both were too wrapped up in their conversation to pay him much mind, and Gourry preferred it that way._

" _Why don't we stop by the mines, show you around?" Pollock said._

 _Gourry looked at the giant crater near the aqueduct and felt uneasy. Filthy people dressed in rags that did little to hide their skeletal bodies shifted through dirt and were overseen by people wielding whips. Pollock's talk of the mines had made him suspicious, but seeing it for himself made it unavoidable. Uneasiness gave way to outright sickness as an overseer started yelling, accusing a young man shifting through the dirt of pocketing diamonds for himself. As the man was searched, someone emerged from the crater with a wheelbarrow laden with dirt. "I think I should check on Mother first. The mine will still be there."_

 _Displeasure shown in Pollock's eyes, "I'd forgotten how much of a mama's boy you were."_

 _Gourry's eyes narrowed as the person pushing the wheelbarrow sat it down and started running towards them. "Gourry!"_

" _Not her." Pollock muttered as Gourry's confusion grew. Her voice was familiar, but what was she doing in the mines?_

" _Aunt Larsa?" Why was she calling and running to him? Larsa had never kept her dislike of him secret._

" _Get back to work!" a man, who Gourry recognized as being a friend of his fathers, yelled at her._

 _She ignored him and continued walking towards them determinedly. "Now!" the man continued as he cracked the whip, but she continued forward undaunted, "Or you get this and you can do without your rations tonight!"_

" _Go to hell." She yelled at him as she reached Gourry. The man started to follow her but Gourry put his hand up. Pollock was furious, but he nodded, and the man stood down._

" _What is this?" Gourry asked as she threw her arms around him and gave him what had to have been the most awkward hug he had ever had in his life._

" _I missed you." She said as she held a baffled Gourry a little closer._

" _Like hell you did." Pollock said, "Get back to work."_

" _Work?" Gourry asked, noticing the scars that lines her shoulders._

" _Three years ago she led an army to try to steal the Sword of Light. She and the other traitors have been consigned to the mines." Pollock said._

 _Gourry stared at Larsa, whose bones poked through her skin and was covered in dirt and sweat but whose eyes were still defiant and felt a strange mix of emotions. He'd never liked Larsa. She had always been cruel to him. While part of him felt she was reaping what she had always sowed, he was also horrified. Treating people this way wasn't right. He looked to the crater and saw other workers, some of them so young that Gourry could only conclude that they were the children of those who had fought with Larsa._

 _Larsa was watching him closely. So was Pollock. "It wasn't enough for your father to steal the sword, he had to steal all of the food and water with it." She said deliberately._

 _Pollock smacked her and, weakened from malnourishment and overwork, she crumpled into the sand. Gourry knelt beside her, "Are you okay?"_

" _Are you okay?" Pollock mimed, "Why are you wasting your time with a traitor who always hated you?"_

" _What are you doing beating starving women?" Gourry shot back as he helped Larsa to her feet and felt her slip something into his hand._

 _Pollock was about to speak again when Larsa interrupted him, "Your mother died this morning." Silence followed her announcement, delivered so callously and laced with venom as she glared at them contemptuously. "Your father is at the house. You should get there right away."_

 _Before anyone could say anything she turned around and stormed off back to the mine. Gourry wrapped his hand around what she had given him but didn't even think to look at it. Was Larsa lying? Surely that was it. She just wanted to hurt them. The thought of his mother dying before he could see her one last time and tell her good bye was unbearable. From his left he heard Mills gasp and saw him wipe his eyes as time seemed to slow down. "Let's go." Pollock said, his voice gruff, and Gourry followed mechanically as he clung to the thin hope that it was a lie._

 _The trip to the house was surreal. Biar looked so different from what it had when he was growing up. New buildings sat awkwardly next to old buildings, a hint of familiarity amidst a strange town and flanked by his brothers whom he was starting to despise. Eventually Pollock moved to the door of the largest house Gourry had ever seen and went inside._

 _Once inside Gourry realized that his father and remaining siblings were in there, along with Anga. But the smell of death clung to every crevasse of the house. By the time that Pollock had entered his mother's room and he had followed him tears were streaming down his face. He had just missed her._

" _Gourry." Fyla, who was by the door exclaimed, when she saw him and quickly folded him into a reassuring hug. The feeling of strangeness asserted itself again. She was taller than him when he left, now her head barely came up to his shoulder. "She wanted me to tell you how much she loved you."_

 _Gourry squeezed her a bit more tightly as the pain seared his head. On the bed lay his mother's body, already wrapped in a shroud. His father sat beside the bed, sobbing. Gourry could barely think about anything than if he had just been a few hours earlier he could have seen her while she was still alive._

 _Gourry patted Fyla on the back and pulled away, noting Gunther in the corner, staring at him appraisingly, seemingly unaffected. Gourry walked to his father and gave him a hug, feeling as though he were hugging a stranger, and quickly sat beside the bed to give his respects._

 _Gunther sneered, "All these tears over such a snake."_

" _You will talk respectfully about your mother!" Petry yelled, his voice choked with tears._

" _She disowned us when she rejected your child! She's not been a wife to you for years." Gunther said, "You should have sent her to the dunes ages ago."_

" _Can't be too hard on her. She was a woman. Grandma was fooling around with Nes behind Grandpa's back." Pollock continued._

" _That's a lie!" Petry yelled as the air became thick with tension. But Pollock and Gunther were young men and stronger than him now. He could no longer beat them to his will. A growing sense of unease grew within Gourry as he feared whether or not the family would come to blows._

" _Never did learn who fathered Grandma. All women betray their men." Gunther said. "You expected too much from her."_

 _Petry sprang to his feet, and Gourry got up, placing himself between them and finding himself joined by his sisters, aunt, and Mills. "This is a place for mourning, not fighting." Anga said._

" _I've got stuff to do." Gunther said as he walked out. Pollock followed him._

 _Fyla wrapped an arm around Petry and sat down beside him. Gourry relaxed as Petry said, "Mother never with Nes, never!"_

" _I know." Fyla said as Gourry sat down, catching Anga's eye as he did. She looked to be well fed, but livid._

" _Nes told me that Grandma was like a daughter to him." Gourry said quietly, "There was nothing improper about it."_

 _Silence descended upon the room as Gourry clasped his hands together to pay his respects, noting the leathery material that Larsa had placed into his hands. He looked at it, surprised to see writing on it. Who in Biar knew how to write? He'd heard that his grandmother had, but had given up on teaching her children after a failed attempt to help them learn by writing letters in the sand. But it looked as though Larsa had somehow retained the knowledge through the years, for there on the bit of leather were the words "we revolt tonight."_

 _Gourry stowed it in his pocket as he started to sweat. The room seemed stiflingly hot, and the fact that his mother's now decaying and smelly body was in it did not help. Taking a deep breath made it worse. All he could taste when he did so was death. Fortunately Petry and his siblings were too lost in their grief to notice. He reached for his canteen to bring it to his lips but found it empty. "Follow me." Anga said, who had not taken her eyes off of him, "I'll show you where the pump is."_

 _Grateful for a reason to leave the crowded, foul smelling room and gather his thoughts, and disappointed in himself for not being able to endure it to pay his respects, he followed Anga, and as soon as they were out of earshot Anga said, "Things have moved from bad to worse since you left. Don't let the grandeur fool you."_

 _Gourry wondered why she was telling them this. And why Larsa had slipped him a note telling him of her plans to rebel that night. His mother had just died! He was so overwhelmed with grief it was hard to think straight as Anga continued, "Your father has become as bad as the emperor. Anyone who disagrees with him ends up in the mines now. Your father sure loves his little pleasures but he's put the rest of the town on a strict ration, a gallon of water per family per day. Pollock is just like him. And Gunther has brought a bad crowd to Biar. His gang roams the streets at night, doing what they will, taking what they want. Petry lets him get away with practically murder."_

 _Gourry's throat felt even drier. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked._

" _Because you're not like them!" Anga hissed as she entered the kitchen and showed him the water pump. "You're a Gunginiel Knight! You have powers! If Petry didn't have the Sword of Light he couldn't get away with this! Larsa and everyone else who stands up to him would have a chance!"_

 _Slowly it dawned on him what she was wanting, and he felt a conflict of loyalties well within him as she took his canteen and filled it. She handed it to him, a look of sympathy in her eyes as she patted him on the shoulder, "You just lost your mother and we're placing this horrible burden on your shoulders. It's not fair of us to ask this of you. But we've been living under Petry's heel for nine years now, we can't suffer it anymore. This is our chance. This is your chance to right the wrong your father committed and see that the sword is given to Jula."_

 _Gourry, who had brought the canteen to his lips and was drinking, nearly choked as he remembered the agreement he had come to with his cousins. Jula and Ketcher would be horrified to know about what was happening in the mines. Unlike him, Larsa had treated them kindly and they had fond memories of her. And learning that she, and possibly their cousins, were languishing in the mines after leading a failed attempt to stand up to him would rile them up. They would feel obligated to fight._

 _And Gourry knew that if either of them attempted to stand up to Petry, Pollock and Gunther they would be killed. Jula and Ketcher simply were not fighters. There was no way he could postpone this fight. They would insist on joining him. No, if he was going to move, he would have to move now._

" _What do you need me to do?" Gourry asked._

 _Anga clasped him to her in relief as she whispered. "Just get the sword, and get it far from here."_

 _Gourry nodded, and pushed her away, taking another drink of water and another deep breath to compose himself. "I've got to pay my respects." He said, feeling numb._

" _Before you do, let's get you some food and water. Running out amongst those dunes without either is suicide. I've got some money for you as well. It's not much, but it should tide you over." Anga said as she started to open cabinet doors and pulled out staples such as raisins and hard tack. Numbly Gourry put what she set out in his traveling sack and, once provisioned so that he had enough for a month, much less a week, he tied it and swung it over his back._

 _Gourry wondered if he should tell her that he couldn't give the sword to Jula. Jula who was running a successful business and was so excited about her upcoming marriage and wanted nothing to do with the sword. It would all be destroyed for her if he gave her the sword as soon as his father and brothers tracked her down and demanded to get it back from her using any means necessary. But if she didn't have it they wouldn't have any reason to harass her._

 _He couldn't do that to her, or to Ketcher or Nona. If he was going to take the sword he was going to have to keep it, and get as far away from Biar, from the Elmekian Empire even, as possible. And he was going to have to make sure it never feel into the hands of anyone who would misuse the power it bestowed upon them. Hell, he was going to have to make sure he didn't misuse it! The burden he was taking on pressed down on him ominously as he walked back to his mother's room._

 _Quietly he rejoined his family. "Are you okay?" Fyla asked._

 _Gourry nodded as he took a seat by the bed and leaned forward, supporting his temples with his hands. His thoughts were slow and sluggish and full of resentment. He couldn't focus properly on paying his respects, his mind was so full of what he would have to do and all he had seen. Get the sword. But how? And get it far from Biar. He wanted to cry until the ache in his head was gone but it was not possible at the moment._

 _The hours passed agonizingly slowly, but late in the afternoon Petry announced he was going to the pub. Somehow, through the think morasses that his thoughts had sunk into, Gourry realized there was an opportunity there, and offered to go with him._

* * *

 _Quietly Gourry sat beside his father. He wondered if Petry noticed just how nervous he was but he didn't seem to. He was already drunk. Meanwhile Gourry had barely touched his ale. "How is my Adena?" Petry asked._

 _Gourry thought for a moment, "She's well. She's happy, Nes takes her to train with the sorcerer's guild and she can cast a few spells. She asks about you, she's curious. But I think she's scared, doesn't want to give up her training. And she is promising. It would be a shame for her to have to give it up."_

 _Petry took another drink, "What does she look like?"_

" _Like Mother." Gourry said, glancing at Petry's waist and the sword holstered there._

" _I still can't believe she rejected her." Petry said, his words slurry, "I tried to make everything up to her. Built the whole house for her, but she wouldn't even move into it! Stayed in the damn hut! It wasn't until she collapsed that I finally got her in it. Everything I did was for her!"_

 _Gourry couldn't think of anything to say. He kept glancing at the sword as Petry kept drinking. "For years we suffered the drought together! Suffered it! But we always had each other's back. And then when Mother was murdered she goes and rejects my child and disowns me! And I wanted to make things right with her so bad, I tried everything I could think of to make her love me again, but she wouldn't."_

 _Petry's eyes slowly blinked, and Gourry could see that he was getting very drowsy. His anxiety grew as he wondered if it was the right moment. Petry's eyes widened and Gourry saw the rage flare in them briefly and lost his nerve. He was grateful that Petry was too drunk to realize that his hands were shaking so badly he hadn't even dared to drink his ale._

" _Thought on her death bed she'd come around. But she cussed me out for bringing her to the house, guess it couldn't be forgiven!" he said, and Gourry grew more nervous as he realized that he was getting himself worked up._

 _Gourry put a hand on his shoulder, "It's been a long day. Let's get you home. Things will seem better in the morning."_

" _The hell they will!" Petry protested. "I always wanted to give her everything. It's why I stained my hands. So she could have everything! I thought it would make her happy, but she hated me for it! Nine years she hated me!"_

" _Come on." Gourry said, pulling him off his seat. "You'll get to see Adena in a few weeks."_

 _Petry stumbled, and as Gourry wrapped his arms around his waist to help him up his fingers brushed the buckle of Petry's sword belt. In the space of a time so small as to be immeasurable he realized it was his chance and he undid it, grabbing the sword and maneuvering it away from Petry as he helped him to his feet. Gourry held the sword with his left hand while he used his right arm to support Petry. "Come on, off to bed with you."_

 _Slowly he helped Petry out of the bar, scarcely believing how easy it had been even as guilt was overwhelming him. Cautiously he moved Petry towards the house. His father was more of a deadweight than anything now, and Gourry had to fight the temptation to ditch him and flee. But seeing that Petry was safe in his bed was the least he could do, especially considering that right or wrong, in the morning he was going to wake to find that he had been betrayed by another loved one._

 _Suddenly he heard footsteps approaching and recognized the smell of tobacco that marked Pollock now. Gourry didn't think it was possible for his heart to beat any faster, but it was going so fast he worried it would explode. Pollock came in to view, he cussed when he saw them. "Damn Larsa goes and works the town into a frenzy again and you're drunk off your ass!"_

 _That roused Petry a bit, "She what?"_

" _The miners are revolting!" Pollock spelled out before adding words that made Gourry's heart stop. "We need the sword. You're too drunk to do nothing about it."_

" _How stupid do you think I am?" Petry sloshed as he broke free from Gourry and walked forward a few steps, "Give it to you? I'd never get it back! I can still fight!"_

 _He reached for the sword, patting the place by his hip as he came up empty handed. Gourry backed away as Pollock eyed him. "Damn sneak. Come in here spouting out ideas of nobility and he's gone and taken the sword for himself!"_

 _Gourry saw him reach for his sword, and seemed to watch from outside himself as he realized that his first real battle was approaching, and that battle was going to be with his own kin. Petry looked at him, his eyes shining with the sting of betrayal. "You're going to hand it over to some little girl?" Petry asked._

" _Jula has her own life. She doesn't want to get tangled up in this. So don't go bothering her because she won't have it." Gourry said, "I'm taking it, far away from our family before it does any more damage!"_

" _Bastard, you just want it for yourself!" Pollock said as he charged at him._

 _Gourry grasped the Sword of Light with both hands and raised it up, removing just enough of it from its sheath in time to meet Pollock's strike. Pollock charged again, and Gourry managed to remove the sword fully and met the blow. Gourry felt sick as he defended himself while his father watched from the sidelines, seemingly paralyzed with indecision. Gourry knew he could end this easily by giving the sword back to him, but after all he had seen that day he couldn't. But he also couldn't bring himself to move from the defensive to the offensive._

 _Gourry wondered how he could take the sword without seriously wounding or killing his brother and father. While he had resolved himself to taking the sword, he hadn't resolved to killing for it. How could he do that without becoming as bad as his father?_

 _Fear held him in place. He defended himself, but he did not take the offense. Gradually people started to line the streets to watch as the sounds of fighting in the distance grew louder. But all Gourry was focusing on was Pollock's movements. Where would he strike next? How could he defend himself best? Mechanically he went through the motions, and the presence of a new player on the scene went unnoticed by him, lost in agony of his thoughts as he struggled to figure out what to do._

 _Pollock charged at him again, and Gourry moved to deflect him, but suddenly Pollock lost his balance, and Gourry felt sick to his stomach as instead of feeling the familiar reverberation of steel blades clashing, he felt the new sensation of his blade cleanly slicing through an exposed stomach. Gourry's eyes widened in horror as Pollock slide to the ground, already slick and bloody with his spilled guts as a horrendous odor filled the air. Behind Pollock was Larsa, her arms still extended from the effort of pushing him, and in her hands she carried her own sword drenched in blood._

" _Pollock!" Petry screamed as he stumbled to his firstborn, and Gourry felt sick to his stomach as the crowd whispered around him. He felt the sword go weak in his hand._

 _Petry cradled Pollock in his arms as Gourry stared transfixed on the horrible scene, looking for any sign of life from Pollock. But there was none. Gourry felt as though he was going to vomit. It hadn't been him though, had it? Larsa had pushed Pollock onto his blade! But then they wouldn't have been fighting in the first place if he hadn't been trying to steal the Sword of Light. And he was better than that! He had let himself become distracted. There was no way Larsa should have been unable to enter the battlefield without him noticing._

 _But before Gourry could flagellate himself too thoroughly, Larsa abruptly clasped her hands around his blade, forcing Gourry to look away from Pollock and at her. "Give me the sword, boy."_

 _Gourry remained frozen, and Larsa turned her hands, attempting to wretch the sword from his loosened grasp. He tightened it. "I know you want to do the right thing." Larsa said._

 _Part of Gourry wanted to give it to her. He didn't want the weight of the burden of responsibility that came with owning a sword as powerful the Sword of Light. Especially now that he was unworthy of it as he had killed the get it. And if he gave it up he could take whatever punishment that the city of Biar deemed appropriate and stay in the Elmekian Empire and close to his loved ones._

" _You mean give it to Jula?" Gourry asked._

 _A trail of blood dripped from Larsa's hands as she kept her hands around the blade. "If she wants it so bad, she can come and take it for herself."_

 _Gourry's stomach sank. The words "but not without a fight" hung in the air unspoken. Larsa had always been ambitious. And now that she had had to endure years of indignities under the heel of her older brother wielding the Sword of Light, her vengeance would be terrible to behold. No, Gourry had set upon this path. He knew he would have to keep it safe from people who would misuse it. And he knew it would be burdensome. He couldn't shrink it now, least he find the town of Biar in an even worse situation under Larsa._

 _Without speaking a word he located her collar bone, and jabbed his fingers behind it, forcing her to the ground as she let go of the blade. Then he ran, breaking effortlessly through the stunned crowded. He kept expecting someone to give chase but no one did. Were they simply too stunned to do anything? Were they so busy fighting amongst each other that no one thought to chase him? Or had the townspeople simply been glad to see the Sword of Light gone after being downtrodden by the man wielding it for so long? Gourry got to the border of the town effortlessly and kept running, unsure of where he was going. He would figure that out later. But for now he needed to put as much distance between himself and Biar as possible._

* * *

"So, what do they have in terms of firepower?" Lina asked, getting straight to business.

"Gunther is above average with a sword, but he doesn't have a magical one. And even then he's not comparable, that's why he tried to do what he did." Gourry explained. "As for Mills, the talent just missed him altogether. They seemed to have a gang of chimeras and beastmen with them, but nothing that shouldn't be too difficult for us to handle. And then there was a sorcerer."

"Two." Nes corrected.

"Hopefully third rate if these are the games they have to play." Lina muttered, "Good news for us, then, because between Gourry's skills and the Blast Sword, my magic, and with Nes being a dragon, we should have them cornered. Adena, I'm…"

"Dragon?" Gourry interrupted.

"Dragon! Keep up!" Lina said. "Anyway…"

"I'm confused." Adena said, looking as Nes, "What is she talking about?"

Slowly something started to dawn on Gourry. Old questions he had always had about Nes came to the forefront and for some reason he thought about Milgasea while Lina looked at the three of them in turn, her expression incredulous, "You mean you don't know?" Lina asked.

"I never told them." Nes said quietly.

"Told us what?" Adena asked.

"How long have you known him again?" Lina asked Gourry.

"All my life." Gourry replied.

"And in all that time you never figured out he was a golden dragon?" Lina asked, disbelief lining her voice, "This from the man who says he knew Xellos was a Mazoku!?"

"You met Xellos?" Nes asked, alarm lining his voice.

"What are you all talking about?" Adena asked.

"Well, I'd fought other Mazoku before." Gourry explained, "But Milgasea was the first golden dragon I met. Or so I thought. I mean, I knew there was something different about Nes, he's been alive for so long, but the older I got the less I thought about it."

"You're a golden dragon?" Adena asked, confused, "But how? I mean, dragons are huge!"

"There is a spell we can use to transform ourselves into human form." Nes explained.

Adena stared at him in disbelief and Lina folded her arms across her chest while Gourry mulled over several questions he had. "How come you never told us?"

"Hikara and I agreed that it would be best that Lucia never knew. And even after Lucia was dead, it just never seemed relevant."

"Hikara?" Lina asked.

"She was our great-grandmother." Gourry explained as he started thinking again about how they never knew who Lucia's father was. "Lucia was our grandmother."

"But why keep it from her?" Adena asked.

Nes was silent for a moment before explaining, "Children such as Lucia never really fit in anywhere. Unions between dragons and humans are not encouraged among my people for such reasons. The human element is so corrupting that if they are raised among dragons they feel their mortality, even though Lucia should have expected to live a few centuries had she not been murdered."

There was an unusual bitterness to his voice as though he was still furious about the stolen years and he stopped for a moment to gather himself before he continued, "Such children fare better when raised among humans, but if she knew about her true nature it would set her apart. We wanted her to fit in, so Hikara settled in the Elmekian Empire. Everywhere else it was well known that the Swordsman of Light was enamored of the golden dragon she traveled with."

Lina's eyes widened, "You mean you were there when Sairaag was destroyed? Oh man, I've got so many questions for you that…" she glanced at Gourry, "That can wait for a later time."

"You were her father." Gourry stated quietly as a lot of things in his life started to make sense.

"I was." He replied.

"So you're our great-grandfather." Gourry continued.

"Yes."

For some reason, the knowledge was comforting. Nes had always felt like family, and Gourry could not count the number of times growing up when, recovering from a beating, he had wished that the kinder Nes was his actual father. Knowing Nes was blood was reassuring, even if they were removed by more generations than Gourry and his father. Blood was blood, and just as he had aspects of his father running through him, he also had aspects of Nes.

Gourry got up and gave him a firm hug while Adena looked at them incredulously, "You could have said something."

Lina sighed, "Man, no wonder Milgasea's jokes had no effect on you."

"Have you heard the one he told about…" Nes began.

"Don't remind me!" Lina snapped. "Anyway, back to our game plan, unless they have any big players we don't know about, I say we've definitely got them outpowered."

"That won't be the issue." Nes said. "They were relying on catching you off guard and mutilating Gourry. Now that they have been stopped they are likely scrambling."

"Any chance they'll slink off with their tail between their legs?" Lina asked.

"They went to a lot of trouble to get here." Gourry said, "Going home to Father empty handed will not be an option."

Nes and Adena looked at each other in confusion. "What?" Gourry said.

"But of course he wouldn't know." Adena said.

"Is he dead?" Gourry asked, "But Mills said…"

"It sounds as though Mills was trying to intimidate you." Nes said quietly.

"And Father's not dead." Adena said, placing hand on his shoulder. "Gourry, he changed. Repented."

"Repented?" Gourry repeated stupidly.

"After Pollock was killed he made his way to my house, outcast and heartbroken." Nes said. "Losing Pollock woke him up to what his avarice was doing to his family. He apologized to your cousins for murdering their parents. And he was guilt ridden over the burden he placed on you and the hard choices he forced you to make. He took on the responsibility for Pollock's death on himself."

Gourry sat down on the bed in shock. Adena curled up beside him and wrapped an arm around him as Nes continued. "As repentant as he was, murder is not easily forgiven. I cannot begin to describe how I have struggled with it. Your cousins were also upset that you were driven from the Elmekian Empire. They were suspicious of an ulterior motive, and not ready to start the process of forgiveness. So I took him to the shrines at Elisia and brought Adena to visit him there often, though she has remained predominantly in my care. Gradually he recovered. He remarried and started a new family. He treats them with a gentleness he withheld from you. He wants to get it right this time."

Slowly the information sank in. He had always assumed that everyone in his family was furious with him for either Pollock's death or for taking the sword for himself. The idea that his father might have changed had never occurred to him. Petry had walked on such a dark path that turning around seemed impossible. But there was Nes, the father of the woman he had murdered, saying it was so.

But still.

"Jula isn't mad at me?" Gourry asked.

"Jula and Ketcher were madder at themselves. They feel they put you up to it. In some ways Jula was relieved that she didn't have to make the hard choices herself, but all the same she felt guilty that you took that burden for her."

Gourry wiped at his eyes as relief tore through him. "But Gunther and Mills, they were so well organized…"

"Gunther had set up quite the network before the family was run out of Biar." Nes explained.

"All of them?"

"Larsa took over after your father was run out. She and her children are thriving there. Your siblings and their families mostly managed to get out of Biar before Larsa could retaliate. Things are a lot more equitable under Larsa, though she was quite brutal with those who had been loyal and put up a fight. All told, I would not advise visiting Biar. While a lot of the town remains friendly to you for taking the sword from Petry, Larsa is still livid you did not leave it with her.

"As for Gunther and Mills, Gunther fell back on his resources and used all of them to track you down to get the Sword of Light. But he's also gained a bad reputation and more than a few warrants out for his arrest."

Lina's eyebrows raised, "So, if we track them down and force them to surrender we can hand them to the authorities and they'll take it from there."

Nes nodded and Lina smiled. "This will be a piece of cake then! Come on Gourry, let's get this done with."

Boldly she strode to the door and walked from it. Gourry smiled a little as he stood up, his worries about being able to maintain happiness with Lina and being a good father to their children starting to fade. If his father could tame the raging monster within him and treat his new family with kindness, then Gourry could certainly see that the monster never surfaced within himself. "The next time you see Jula," he said quietly, "Tell her she can stop feeling guilty. Because I took the Sword of Light, I met someone special. And because I met her, we saved the world a few times."

"If I didn't know any better I'd say that you're in love." Adena playfully chided him.

"I am." Gourry said with a smile, "Just don't tell her before I have a chance to."

 **AN: OK, I lied at the end of chapter 2 when I said that I listed that was all we know of Gourry's background. Mr. Kanzaka also stated that the Swordsman of Light's companion was a golden dragon, hence the inspiration for Nes. Now, whether or not Gourry is part dragon is unknown, and even if he is it would not account for his super senses as in the novels Milgasea is astounded by how sharp Gourry's senses are, implying they are better than his. But in both the novels and anime, Gourry is the one who breaks the ice with Milgasea, and Gourry and Milgasea's sense of humor is rather similar (and in the novels Lina describes him as the sole human in the room who was not adversely affected by it), so perhaps he is part dragon and the mannerisms are lurking deep within his DNA.**


	6. Chapter 6

The wind howled fiercely as Gourry brought the needle to the hilt, just as he had seen his grandmother do in the past. She had always made detaching the blade look so easy, but he was having a bit of difficulty getting it to turn correctly. Eventually it clicked, and the blade fell to the bottom of his tent. Gourry looked at the bladeless hilt and took a deep breath as he stared at the flap of the tent. Outside a horrendous sandstorm was raging. He'd spent much of the night running. Once he was far enough away that he was fairly secure that no one was pursuing him, he staked out a tent and fell into a deep sleep, waking up only when the storm had started. Traveling in it would be futile, but at least it meant that anyone pursuing him wouldn't be able to find him.

Numbly he wrapped a scarf around his face and moved to stand just outside the tent. The wind pushed against him fiercely, but he was well protected under the layers of clothes he wore from the biting sand. In a voice that seemed so detached from himself that he almost wondered if someone else was there he called, "Light come forth!"

The sword sprang to life, buzzing constantly as it was bombarded with sand. He took a few practice swings, stopping only when the ache started to form in his head. In a single day he had lost his mother, and now thanks to this cursed sword, a brother as well. And now he could never go home again thanks to it. Grief welled within him, threatening to displace the comforting numbness he'd felt since fleeing. He took a deep breath, and put the sword away and stepped back into the tent, closing the flap behind him. He threw the sword in the corner and put his sack over it so he wouldn't have to look at it and lay down facing the opposite direction.

He wasn't used to being alone. Typically privacy was hard to find. From growing up in a hut crammed with his parents and siblings to sharing a small dormitory with seven or so other boys, he'd never slept alone a night in his life. Conducting even the most personal of business in earshot of four or five other people was such a fact of life that he'd never given much thought to what it would be like to be alone. His ears kept straining for signs of human life. A snore, a muted conversation, footsteps, laughter or tears, anything. But all he heard was the roar of the wind and sound of sand hitting the tent. It didn't seem right.

But then nothing was right.

Realizing that there was not much to do other than brood about everything that had gone wrong, it didn't take him long to succumb to the urge to sleep. When he woke again it was quiet outside. Slowly he got up and grabbed his bag and the sword. Part of him realized he should eat something, but he didn't feel hungry. In fact, he didn't feel anything.

His limbs felt heavy as he stepped into the sun and dismantled the tent. He looked at the sky, determined where west was and headed in that direction, his legs like leaden weights. Eventually if he kept going west he would hit the border of Saillune, but what he would do then was a mystery. Keep heading west until he reached the ocean? Or perhaps he could visit Sairaag. His great-grandmother made history there. Maybe there was someone there who could talk to him about her. Or just someone to talk to. He desperately wanted someone to talk to.

He felt tears fall down his face as sadness welled within him, thawing the numbness that he had felt since he left Biar. He needed to tell Nes, or any of his mentors at Gungini Hall, about what had happened. He needed to hear them say he had done all he could, or that he had done well, that even now he was doing the right thing. He needed that reassurance.

It wasn't until he crossed the border of Saillune a little over a week later and saw green grass for the first time in his life that he realized that he would never again have an adult assure him that his actions were right or wrong. He would have to be that adult now. It was what all of his training had been about, to figure out the difference without having someone decide for you. And now for the first time he had acted on that training. He would have to accept the consequences and not worry about the approval, or disapproval of others.

Because from here on out, he was alone.

* * *

It did not take long to track down his brothers and their gang. And, as the plan was now to turn them into the authorities rather than to give them such a thorough lashing that they never dared to step foot out of the Elmekian Empire again, Gourry was a lot more comfortable with it. Accidents could happen, and someone else very well could have died under the latter, but he was sure that between the four of them they could round Gunther and Mills up easily without anyone getting killed. Especially with the strategy that Lina had suggested.

They tracked them through the day, and at night found their location around a campfire. After spending some time scouting them, they quickly agreed on the best way to approach them. As they moved to their positions, Gourry walked around the perimeter of the camp so he was closest to Gunther. When the time came, he would be ready.

From his place behind Gunther, Gourry watched as Nes boldly walked into the camp, seemingly unarmed and defenseless. A few of the beastmen grabbed their weapons as he approached, and Gunther and Mills got up cautiously. "What is it you want?" Gunther asked.

"Call off your men, I mean you no harm." Nes said quietly.

Gunther grinned as his men laughed, their heads heady with arrogance. Granted, Gourry had used to worry about Nes being able to defend himself, but he went into dangerous situations with nary a regard for himself that Gourry figured he must have had something up his sleeve. It was credit that Gunther did not give him. "It looks to us as though you're unarmed." Gunther looked at his men, "Search the perimeter."

"I come in good faith to ask you to stand down and give up your vendetta." Nes continued calmly as several beastmen left to search the camp.

"Not going to happen." Gunther said. "Gourry has to pay for what he did."

"I was afraid you would say that." Nes said quietly.

Without further warning, Nes morphed into his natural state. Gunther nearly dropped his sword as the blood left his face while he stared at the golden dragon that stood where Nes had. Mills shrieked with terror, and most of the men in the camp went running, screaming "dragon!" in their wake. Gourry grinned as they ran with their tails between their legs while Lina intercepted Mills. "Time to surrender."

He got down on his knees without a fight. As Lina finished subduing him, Gourry quietly walked to where Gunther gapped open mouthed at Nes. "Time to give it up, Gunther." He said quietly.

Gunther turned to stare at him, and his eyes hardened as he lunged at him. "Over my dead body!"

Gourry parred easily with the flat side of his sword. Gunther lunged to attack again, and this time Gourry let his blade severe Gunther's. Gunther gasped as he brought his hilt to his face, the blade cleanly cut off. "H-how?" he asked.

"Surrender now." Gourry said calmly.

Gourry ducked as Gunther threw the hilt at him. Nes flexed his tail, knocking Gunther's legs from beneath him before he could do something more stupid. Gourry quickly subdued him and started to tie him up. "What are you going to do?" he asked.

"Turn you into the authorities." Gourry explained calmly.

"I'll get out!" Gunther swore, "And then I'll come after you again! You'll have to look over your shoulder every single day!"

"Considering the charges, we won't have to worry about that." Gourry said as he finished tying him up and then helped him to his feet. He'd had to reconcile himself to the fact a long time ago that his family's actions did not define him, but after hearing the nature of the charges against Gunther and Mills, Gourry had had to relearn the skill.

Lina and Adena came back to the center of the camp with Mills and a few of the other members, but most had escaped into the forest. "I have people loyal to me who will get me out!" Gunther insisted.

"Don't embarrass yourself." Gourry said.

"You know better than us how it is among thieves." Nes said, "Someone else has been gunning for your position. We just did him a favor."

Gunther seethed, "Killing me would be kinder."

"Throwing you into jail is going to be far kinder than anything you would have done to me." Gourry countered as he made sure he had Gunther secure in his custody and set off for the nearest town.

* * *

There was a rather generous bounty on Gunther, that increased with each member of his gang that they turned in. While running into Gunther had incurred a great deal of pain and suffering, and while without it he and Lina would have to take a few odds jobs to have the money to make it to Zefiel City as the unexpected detour had depleted their reserves, Gourry just didn't feel right taking it.

He'd let Nes take the money. He'd made a considerable trip to help him after all, and this would go a long way towards repaying that. And if he was in such a rush with Lina, they would have visited her home months ago. Zefiel City would still be there.

And despite his fears, Lina wasn't making any move to go anywhere without him. Perhaps, he thought, their bond was strong enough to withstand some mistakes on his part. Which was a good thing indeed.

Gourry listened amusedly as Lina spent the morning asking Nes detailed questions about what had happened in Sairaag. He could tell that he was impressed with the technicality of her questions. At one point he even asked what Gourry had told her about Sairaag, and Lina brushed it aside, "You know Gourry, he just makes some stupid comment about how he wasn't paying attention when someone told him about all this! No, this is all my own research, so anyway…"

Later that morning Nes asked them how they had came to know Milgasea and Xellos, and Lina had launched into one of her long, detailed explanations, interrupted by Gourry here and there to argue a point. But when Lina detailed how Hellmaster had kidnapped him and how she got him back, Nes at first had a hard time believing her. And when he learned that they had defeated a seventh of Shabranigdu not only once but twice he was astounded.

After lunch Adena had asked Lina for some help perfecting the Elmekia Lance. Nes and Gourry watched them quietly for a moment as the women went into the clearing. Eventually Nes said softly, "You humans baffle me."

"Huh?" Gourry responded.

"Your lives are so brief, short, and fragile." He stated. "Hikara was so young and vivacious when I first met her. And then in an instant she was old and feeble, and I was still young, just barely considered an adult among my people. And then she was gone forever. To this day I miss her."

Gourry looked at Lina who was calming critiquing Adena's form and thought about all of the narrow escapes they had had, all of the times he had believed he had lost her as Nes continued, "If Lucia had been a full blooded dragon she would still be a child. Hikara had believed that pregnancy to be never ending, especially as it went on for longer than it typically does for humans, but to me it was so fast. Dragons are used to having much more time to prepare themselves emotionally for the arrival of our young. Lucia arrived scarcely a year after we learned Hikara was pregnant!"

Nes' eyes became wistful, "She grew so fast. Within a mere two decades she was a young woman, something that takes a few centuries among my people. She married, had her own children, who grew just as quickly, quicker even. And then one day I looked at her and realized that she appeared older than me."

Nes smiled slightly, "Dragons typically aren't as impulsive as I was when we are young. Our lives are so long that rushing into decisions without carefully thinking them through is considered foolhardy. We have to live with the consequences of our bad decisions for so much longer. If we meet someone and fall in love, there's no need to rush things. If it's meant to last, then time will tell. In general it's a good thing. But I couldn't help it when I met Hikara. I knew she was special, and I wanted every moment with her that I could have. These unions aren't forbidden but are discouraged for a reason. Seeing your children and then their children outpace you and die, learning what becomes of your descendants through the ages, it's not supposed to happen that way. It would be better if we didn't know.

"But at the time I believed I would regret not pursuing a romance with her far more than I would doing so, and we moved quickly.

"And then here you are, traveling with Lina for years, and so obviously in love with her. She even battled Hellmaster Fibrizo for you, and won! Yet you've done so little to romance her."

Gourry watched Lina clapped Adena on the back as she shot a descent Elmekia Lance into the woods. "Our lives may be shorter, but I guess we also are more scared of making a mistake. We don't have eternity to fix it like you do. If I ever did something to make her hate me the way that Mother did Father, I don't know how I would live with myself."

He took a deep breath, "I have control of that, though. I mean, I don't think I could do something so evil. At the same time, though, what about my children? And their children? What if that evil comes out in one of them? Nes," he turned to look him in the eyes, "Would you have done it again? Knowing that your grandson would kill your daughter? And your granddaughter? Knowing everything that your descendants did, would you have pursued Hikara?"

"Absolutely." Nes said, "Yes, I have suffered pain so unbearable that it seemed it would kill me. And I know you have too." Gourry thought back to the time he had just left Biar and started to understand, "But I've also experienced such joy, and met so many incredible people in my descendants. My brief time with Hikara was special, and nothing that happened after that can take away from it. And besides, while my descendants have done things that have been horrible and caused me pain, they have also done things that have been wonderful and are a source of pride. One has even saved the world a few times and helped to destroy parts of Shabranigdu even. How many great-grandparents have that to brag about?"

Gourry laughed, "I guess my children's children will have some big footprints to fill."

Nes smiled as he grabbed a small bag and put it into Gourry's hands, "Hikara and I once said the same thing. Take this."

Gourry's eyes widened. By its weight and feel he could tell it was filled with coins, "I can't…"

"Regardless of whether you plan to wed and settle down when you reach Zefiel City, or wed and travel more, you will need this more than I do."

"But after all you have done for me…"

"One day you will understand. Think of it as an early wedding gift, and put it to good use."

* * *

"I still say your sister fixed those straws." Lina griped as they walked into the bedroom, and Gourry privately believed that she had a point. It was simply too convenient that the only inn in town had three rooms left, and both of them had drawn the short ones. "Still can't believe they were booked up and we have to share."

Gourry closed the door behind him and locked it, feeling the same heady sense of anticipation and anxiety he always did whenever they had to share a room in the past, except stronger. Before he had never planned to make a move. Now was a different story. "It's fine though, isn't it?" he asked, hoping he sounded kind and reassuring and that his voice wasn't shaking, "I mean, I kind of like going to sleep beside you."

As anticipated she stiffened and turned her face away, but not before he could see how red she had turned. He smiled a bit as his anxiety lessened. Much as he looked forward to the benefits that would come with redefining their relationship, he was going to miss doing this to her. And he was going to milk this last time for all it was worth. "Come to think of it, I kind of like waking up beside you, too."

He moved so he was behind her and gently put his hands on her shoulders. "I also like having you sleep by my side through the night. I'd kind of like to make it a habit, if you're okay with it."

He grabbed her hand, moving them so they were face to face and gently put a finger beneath her chin so she could look into his eyes. "Gourry, do you mean, I mean, what do you mean?" That one of her hands was moving to slipper was not lost on him, "Now look, you're making me talk like an idiot!"

"Love has ways of doing that, doesn't it?" he asked.

Her eyebrows hit her hairline and the familiar panic rose in her eyes. Damn, she was so pretty when she was flustered! He traced his finger around the line of her jaw and up until he reached her hair and started to stroke it and gradually she calmed down, the uncertainty in her eyes gradually being subsumed with want. But not completely. "Gourry, what am I to you?" she asked.

"Oh, haven't I told you?" he asked.

"No, you idiot!" she exclaimed.

"Everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything."

She looked at him, baffled, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"For someone so smart you sure can be dense at times." He said, and then quickly continued before she could respond, "But don't worry. I love you anyway."

She opened her mouth to protest and then let it hang open as what he had said permeated her brain. Then she smiled wickedly as she pulled away from him and wrapped her arms under her breasts, "Well, look at you. You do have a romantic bone in your body."

"Is that all you have to say?" he asked as he felt his anxiety rising.

"Yeah. I mean, I figured you were in love with me. Aren't all men?"

"For someone so high and mighty you sure were nervous about what I felt for you." he pointed out.

She smiled a little, and then walked up to him and cautiously rested her head against his chest. Carefully he brought his arms around her as they started to tread new water together. It was both exhilarating and nerve wracking. Softly she said, "Well, of them all you're the only one I love, so I actually cared if you loved me back."

She wrapped her arms around him and he felt his spirits soar. She did feel the same way! He leaned down to kiss her, certain as he did so that alone was something that he would never be again.

* * *

 **AN: I was pleasantly surprised by the interest this generated, especially as I feel that Gourry is one of the least appreciated characters in fandom and because this focused so heavily on original characters that I really didn't expect the feedback I got. Thanks for reading and I hope ya'll enjoyed!**


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